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PIERRE CURIE IN 1906

PIERRE CURIE

MARIE CURIE

Translated by

CHARLOTTE AND VERNON KELLOGG

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY MRS. WILLIAM BROWN MELONEY
AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
BY MARIE CURIE

ILLUSTRATED

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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1923

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA

Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1923.

Press of

J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York, U. S. A.

“It is possible to conceive that in criminal hands
radium might prove very dangerous, and the question
therefore arises whether it be to the advantage of
humanity to know the secrets of nature, whether we
be sufficiently mature to profit by them, or whether
that knowledge may not prove harmful. Take, for
instance, the discoveries of Nobel — powerful explo¬
sives have made it possible for men to achieve
admirable things, but they are also a terrible means
of destruction in the hands of those great criminals
who draw nations into war. | I am among those who
believe with Nobel that humanity will obtain more
good than evil from future discoveries.”

Pierre Curie,

Nobel Conference , 1903.

TRANSLATORS’ NOTE

The translators wish to acknowledge their
obligations to Dr. R. B. Moore, Chief Chemist,
U. S. Bureau of Mines, and an American author¬
ity on radium, who kindly read the whole trans¬
lation in manuscript in order to assure its
accuracy as to the technical details referred to
by Madame Curie in her account of the work of
her husband and herself on radium.

PREFACE

It is not without hesitation that I have under¬
taken to write the biography of Pierre Curie. I
should have preferred confiding this task to some
relative or some friend of his infancy who had
followed his whole life intimately and possessed
as full a knowledge of his earliest years as of
those after his marriage. Jacques Curie, Pierre’s
brother and the companion of his youth, was
bound to him by the tenderest affection. But
after his appointment to the University of Mont¬
pelier, he lived far from Pierre, and he there¬
fore insisted that I should write the biography,
believing that no one else better knew and under¬
stood the life of his brother. He communicated
to me all his personal memories; and to this
important contribution, which I have utilized in
full, I have added details related by my husband
himself and a few of his friends. Thus I have
reconstituted as best I could that part of his
existence that I did not know directly. I have,
in addition, tried faithfully to express the pro¬
found impression his personality made upon me
during the years of our life together.

PIERRE CURIE

This narrative is, to be sure, neither com¬
plete nor perfect. I hope, nevertheless, that the
picture it gives of Pierre Curie is not deformed,
and that it will help to conserve his memory. I
wish, too, that it might remind those who knew
him of the reasons for which they loved him.

M. C.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction . 11

CHAPTER

I. The Curie Family. Infancy and First
Studies of Pierre Curie . 28

II. Dreams of Youth. First Scientific Work.

Discovery of Piezo-Electricity .... 39

III. Life as the Director of Laboratory Work

in the School of Physics and Chemistry.
Generalization of the Principle of Sym¬
metry. Investigations of Magnetism . . 50

IV. Marriage and Organization of Family Life.

Personality and Character . 73

V. The Dream Become a Reality. The Discov¬
ery of Radium . 93

VI. The Struggle for Means to Work. The Bur¬
den of Celebrity. The First Assistance
from the State. It Comes Too Late . . 107

VII. The Nation’s Sorrow. The Laboratories:

“Sacred Places” . 139

Autobiographical Notes — Marie Curie . . 153

ILLUSTRATIONS

Pierre Curie in 1906 . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Pierre and Marie Curie in their laboratory, where
radium was discovered . 94

A view of the extraction of radium in the old shed

where the first radium was obtained .... 100

Pierre Curie with the quartz piezo-electroscope he in¬
vented, by which rays of radium are measured . 102

A view of the extraction of radium in the old shed
where the first radium was obtained .... 104

Mme. Curie instructing American soldiers in her
Paris laboratory . 220

Madame Curie in her laboratory at the Institut Curie,

Paris . 224

Mme. Curie and President Harding at the White
House, May 20, 1921, when a gram of radium was
presented to its discoverer by the women of
America . 234

PIERRE CURIE

THE LIFE STORY OF
PIERRE CURIE

INTRODUCTION

By Mrs. William Brown Meloney

Every little while a man or a woman is born
to serve in some big way. Such a one surely
is Marie Curie. Her discovery of radium has
advanced science, relieved human suffering and
enriched the world. The spirit in which she has
done her work has challenged the minds and
souls of men.

One morning in the spring of 1898, when
the United States was going to war with Spain,
Madame Curie stepped forth from a crude shack
on the outskirts of Paris, with the greatest secret
of the century literally in the palm of her hand.

It was one of the silent, unheralded great
moments in the world’s history.

The discovery which had become a fact that
morning was no accident. It was a triumph
over hardship and doubting men. It represented

12 PIERRE CURIE

years of patient labor. Madame Curie and her
husband, Pierre Curie, had wrested from Mother
Earth one of her most priceless secrets.

I have been asked to tell why I undertook the
Marie Curie Radium Campaign and how I per¬
suaded Madame Curie to write this book.

It is with much hesitancy that I venture to
write a preface to this book. She once chided
me, in her gentle way, for an article in which I
had stated facts with some feeling — although
the facts praised her. “In science,” she said,
“we should he interested in things, not per¬
sons.”

Madame Curie is the most modest of women.
It is only after long persuasion that she has
consented to record the autobiographical notes
contained in this book. Still, so much has been
left unsaid, uninterpreted, that I feel an obliga¬
tion to say a word toward a fuller understanding
of this great and noble character.

In 1915 I wrote in my editor’s suggestion
book: “Greatest woman’s story in the world —
Marie Curie, discoverer of radium.”

For the next four years scarcely any writer
of prominence went abroad without a commis¬
sion from me to bring back the story of Madame
Curie. Always they returned with the report:
“She was not to be found,” or “She was at the

INTRODUCTION

front somewhere,” or “She won’t see journal¬
ists.” My own letters to Madame Curie brought
no reply. I did not know then that great bags
of mail from all parts of the world lay piled up
in her laboratory where there was no secretary,
while Madame Curie with her X-ray apparatus
was at the front, relieving suffering and saving
lives.

In May, 1919, another mission took me to
Paris and I resolved to see Madame Curie
myself. My friend, Stephane Lauzanne, Editor-
in-Chief of Le Matin , said: “Give it up. Be¬
come interested in something else; she will see
no one. She does nothing but work.”

I began to ask questions.

“She is very simple and exceedingly retiring,”
said Lauzanne. “Few things in life are more
distasteful to her than publicity. Her mind is as
exact and logical as science itself. She cannot
accept or understand exaggerations and inaccu¬
rate quotations. She cannot understand why
scientists, rather than science, should he dis¬
cussed in the press. There are but two things
for her — her little family and her work.

“After the death of Pierre Curie, the faculty
and officials of the University of Paris decided
to depart from all precedent and appoint a
woman to a full professorship at the Sorbonne.

PIERRE CURIE

Madame Curie accepted the appointment and
the date was set for her installation.

“It was the history-making afternoon of Octo¬
ber 5th, 1906. The members of the class which
had formerly been instructed by Professor Pierre
Curie were seated in one group.

“There was present a large crowd — celebri¬
ties, statesmen, academicians, all the faculty.
Suddenly through a small side door entered a
woman all in black, with pale hands and high
arched forehead. The magnificent forehead won
notice first. It was not merely a woman who
stood before us, hut a brain — a living thought.
Her appearance was enthusiastically applauded
for five minutes. When the applause died down,
Madame Curie bent forward with slightly trem¬
bling lips. We wondered what she was about to
say. It was important. It was history, whatever
she said.

“In the foreground sat a stenographer, ready
to record her words. Would she speak of her
husband? Would she thank the Minister and
the public? No, she began quite simply as
follows:

“ ‘When we consider the progress made by the
theories of radio-activity since the beginning of
the Nineteenth Century — ’ The important thing
to this great woman is work. Time should not

INTRODUCTION

be wasted in idle words. And so, dispensing
with all superficial formality, with no betrayal
of the tremendous emotion which all but over¬
came her — except by the extreme pallor of her
face and the trembling of her lips — she contin¬
ued her lecture in clear, well-modulated tones.

“It was typical of this great soul that she
should carry on their work courageously and
without faltering.

“You will see,” concluded Lauzanne, “it is
useless to try to interrupt her work for inter¬
views.”

Later I met one of Madame Curie’s fellow
scientists who sympathized with my desire, but
who agreed with Lauzanne that an interview was
impossible. Finally, however, he promised to
carry a letter to Madame Curie.

I wrote ten letters and destroyed them. In
one I said: “My father, who was a medical man,
wrote: Tt is impossible to exaggerate the unim¬
portance of people.’ But you have been impor¬
tant to me for twenty years, and I want to see
you a few minutes.”

The answer came within an hour. I was to go
to the laboratory the next morning.

I had been in Mr. Edison’s laboratory a few
weeks before sailing from home. Edison is rich
in the material things — as he should be. Every

PIERRE CURIE

kind of equipment is at his command. He is a
power in the financial as well as the scientific
world. In my childhood I had lived near Alex¬
ander Graham Bell ; had admired his great house
and his fine horses. A short time before, I had
been in Pittsburgh, where the sky is plumed by
the tall smoke stacks of the greatest radium
reduction plants in the world.

I remembered that millions of dollars had
been spent on radium watches and radium gun
sights. Several millions of dollars’ worth of
radium was even then stored in various parts of
the United States. I had been prepared to meet
a woman of the world, enriched by her own
efforts and established in one of the white pal¬
aces of the Champs d’Elysees or some other
beautiful boulevard of Paris.

I found a simple woman, working in an
inadequate laboratory and living in a simple
apartment on the meager pay of a French
professor.

As I entered the new building at Number One
Rue Pierre Curie, which stands out conspicu¬
ously among the old walls of the University of
Paris, I had already formed a picture of the
laboratory of the discoverer of radium.

I waited a few minutes in the bare little office
which might have been furnished from Grand

INTRODUCTION

Rapids, Michigan. Then the door opened and I
saw a pale, timid little woman in a black cotton
dress, with the saddest face I had ever looked
upon.

Her well-formed hands were rough. I
noticed a characteristic, nervous little habit of
rubbing the tips of her fingers over the pad of
her thumb in quick succession. I learned later
that working with radium had made them numb.
Her kind, patient, beautiful face had the de¬
tached expression of a scholar. Suddenly I felt
like an intruder.

I was struck dumb. My timidity exceeded her
own. I had been a trained interrogator for
twenty years, but I could not ask a single ques¬
tion of this gentle woman in a black cotton dress.
I tried to explain that American women were
interested in her great work, and found myself
apologizing for intruding upon her precious time.
To put me at my ease, Madame Curie began to
talk about America. She had for many years
wanted to visit my country, but she could not
be separated from her children.

“America,” she said, “has about fifty
grammes of radium. Four of these are in Balti¬
more, six in Denver, seven in New York.” She
went on naming the location of every grain.

“And in France?” I asked.

PIERRE CURIE

“My laboratory,” she replied simply, “has
hardly more than a gramme.”

“You have only a gramme?” I exclaimed.
That meant less than one-twenty-ninth of an
ounce.

“I? Oh, I have none,” she corrected. “It
belongs to my laboratory.”

I suggested royalties on her patents. Surely
she had protected her right to the processes by
which radium is produced. The revenue from
such patents should have made her a very rich
woman.

Quietly, and without any seeming conscious¬
ness of the tremendous renunciation, she said,
“There were no patents. We were working in
the interests of science. Radium was not to en¬
rich any one. Radium is an element. It belongs
to all people.”

She had contributed to the progress of science
and the relief of human suffering, and yet, in
the prime of her life she was without the tools
which would enable her to make further contri¬
bution of her genius.

“If you had the whole world to choose from,”
I asked impulsively, “what would you take?” It
was a silly question, perhaps, but as it happened,
a fateful one.

“You ought to have everything in the world

INTRODUCTION

you need to go on with your work,” I said.
“Some one must undertake this.”

“Who will?” she asked rather hopelessly.

“The women of America,” I promised — and
then I rose to go.

That week I learned that the market price of
a gramme of radium was one hundred thousand
dollars. I also learned that Madame Curie’s
laboratory, although practically a new building,
was without sufficient equipment; that the ra¬
dium held there was used at that time only for
extracting emanations for hospital use in cancer
treatment.

I saw Madame Curie at the Institute again and
then in her own home — a small apartment in
the lie St. Louis, where she lived with her two
daughters. It was a happy, busy little family.
They had no protest against life except to
regret that lack of equipment interfered with
the important research work Madame Curie
and her daughter, Irene, should have been
doing.

It was my hope when I arrived in New York,
a few weeks afterwards, to find ten women to
subscribe ten thousand dollars each for the pur¬
chase of a gramme of radium, and in this way
to enable Madame Curie to go on with her work,
without the publicity of a general campaign.

PIERRE CURIE

That hope was soon dashed. I found one or two
such women, but not ten.

There were not ten to buy that gramme of
radium but there were a hundred thousand
women and a group of men to help, who deter¬
mined the money must be raised.

My first direct and substantial support came
from Mrs. William Vaughn Moody, widow of the
American poet and playwright.

When we found it would be necessary to
launch a national campaign, Mrs. Robert G.
Mead, a doctor’s daughter, and one who had been
a standby in cancer prevention work, became
secretary, and Mrs. Nicholas F. Brady an execu¬
tive member of the committee. Behind these
women stood a group of scientific men, who knew
what radium had meant to humanity, among
them Dr. Robert Abbe, the first American sur¬
geon to use radium, and Dr. Francis Carter
Wood.

In less than a year the fund had been
raised.

Stephane Lauzanne describes a second im¬
pressive moment in the life of Madame Curie.
It was nearly a year after my talk with her. It
was fifteen years since that scene at the Uni¬
versity of Pai^s. These years had been spent in
her laboratory; she had made no public appear-

INTRODUCTION 21

ance. It was in March, 1921, that Monsieur
Lauzanne heard her voice again.

“I lifted the telephone receiver,” he relates,
“and heard these words: ‘Madame Curie wishes
to speak to you.’ What extraordinary event —
what tragedy, perhaps, might this not mean?
And suddenly, over the wire came the sound of
the voice which I had heard only once before,
but which had stayed in my memory — the same
voice which had once pronounced the words,
‘When we consider the progress made by the
theories of radio-activity since the beginning of
the Nineteenth Century - ’

“ ‘I wanted to tell you that I am going to
America,’ she said. ‘It was very hard for me to
decide to go, because America is so far and so
big. If some one did not come for me, I should
probably never have made the trip. I should
have been too frightened. But to this fear is
added a great joy. I have devoted my life to the
science of radio-activity and I know all we owe
to America in the field of science. I am told
you are among those who strongly favor this
distant trip, so I wanted to tell you I have
decided to go, but please don’t let any one know
about it.’

“This great woman — the greatest woman in
France — was speaking haltingly, tremblingly.

PIERRE CURIE

almost like a little girl. She, who handles daily
a particle of radium more dangerous than light¬
ning, was afraid when confronted by the neces¬
sity of appearing before the public.”

A little later, when Madame Curie and I had
embarked for America, where she was to receive
her radium and other experimental material, I
asked her if, the day I had first given her the
promise, she had believed that American women
would rally to her aid.

“No,” she confessed honestly, “but I knew
you were sincere.”

About the time of her marriage, one of her
relatives gave Madame Curie a gift of money
to be used for a trousseau. It was not a great
sum, but important to the poor student in Paris.
To understand the significance of the use to
which she put this fund, it is necessary to remem¬
ber that Marie Sklodowska was young, and pos¬
sessed physical beauty and charm. She was not
without appreciation of the beautiful, and she
could not possibly have been utterly unconscious
of her own appearance. She had a young girl’s
natural interest in pretty clothes. She consid¬
ered the purchase of a wedding gown and other
personal belongings, and then, with her char¬
acteristic exaptness, measured her needs and the
future,

INTRODUCTION

She was married in a simple dress she had
brought from Poland, and her trousseau fund
was spent on two bicyles, so that she and Pierre
Curie might enjoy the beautiful country of
France. That was their honeymoon.

One dream that Madame Curie held, and still
holds unrealized, is the hope of a quiet little
home of her own with a garden and hedge, and
flowers and birds. During her American travels,
she would frequently glance through the win¬
dow as the train passed through a small town,
and, spying some modest little house with a
garden, would say, “I have always wanted such
a little home.”

But owning a house was secondary in the life
of both Pierre and Marie Curie. They simply
made a home wherever they lived, for such
money as might have gone for the purchase of
her little dream house was always needed in the
laboratory. She told me one day, with deep feel¬
ing, that one of the regrets of her life was that
Pierre Curie had died without ever having had a
permanent laboratory.

She had, as I have said, refused opportunities
to come to the United States because she could
not endure separation from her children. She
was, I think, finally persuaded to face the long
trip and the terrifying publicity attending it,

PIERRE CURIE

partly because of her gratitude for the support
given her scientific work, but principally because
it offered a splendid opportunity for travel to
her daughters.

There is in Madame Curie none of the legen¬
dary coldness and thoughtlessness attributed to
the scientist. During the war, when she ran her
own radiological truck and lived on the march
from hospital to hospital in the zone of opera¬
tions, she washed and dried and pressed her own
clothes. Once during our American travels, we
stayed in a home where there were several other
house guests besides our party of five. I entered
Madame Curie’s room and found her washing
her underclothes.

“It is nothing at all,” she said, when I pro¬
tested. “I know perfectly well how to do it, and
with all of these extra guests in the house, the
servants have enough to do.”

On the night before the reception at the White
House, at which President Harding was to pre¬
sent the gramme of radium to Madame Curie,
the Deed was brought to Madame Curie. It was
a beautifully engraved scroll, prepared in the
office of Coudert Brothers, vesting all rights to a
gramme of radium, the gift of American women,
in Madame Gurie.

She read the paper carefully, and then, after

INTRODUCTION

a few moments of thought, said: “It is very fine
and generous, but it must not be left this way.
This gramme of radium represents a great deal
of money, but more than that, it represents the
women of this country. It is not for me ; it is for
science. I am not well; I may die any day. My
daughter Eve is not of legal age, and if I should
die it would mean that this radium would go to
my estate and would be divided between my
daughters. It is not for that purpose. This
radium must be consecrated for all time to the
use of science. Will you have your lawyer draw
a paper which will make this very clear?”

I said that it would be done in a few days.

“It must be done to-night,” she said. “To¬
morrow I receive the radium, and I might die
to-morrow. Too much is at stake.”

And so, late as it was on that hot May evening,
after some difficulty, we secured the services of a
lawyer, who prepared the paper from a draft
Madame Curie herself had written. She signed
it before starting for Washington.

This document read:

“In the event of my death I give to the In-
stitut du Radium, of Paris, for exclusive use in
the Laboratoire Curie, the gramme of radium
which was given to me by the Executive Com¬
mittee of Women of the Marie Curie Radium

PIERRE CURIE

Fund, pursuant to an agreement dated the 19th
day of May, 1921.”

This act was consistent with the whole life
of the discoverer of radium; with the answer she
had made to my question a year before:

“Radium is not to enrich any one. It is an
element; it is for all people.”

During her American travels, I repeatedly re¬
quested Madame Curie to write the story of her
life. I urged its importance to history and its
influence among students preparing to conse¬
crate their lives to science.

Finally she consented. “But it will not be
much of a book,” she said. “It is such an un¬
eventful, simple little story. I was born in War¬
saw of a family of teachers. I married Pierre
Curie and had two children. I have done my
work in France.”

A simple statement, but fraught with what
meaning ! When most of us shall have been for¬
gotten, when even the Great World War shall
have dwindled to a few pages in the history
books, when Governments shall have fallen and
risen and fallen again, the work of Marie Curie
will be remembered.

Of her work and her husband’s, volumes —
veritable libraries — have been written since that
spring morning in 1898, when after an all night

INTRODUCTION

vigil in a shack on the outskirts of Paris, she
came forth with the great gift of radium to man¬
kind. Scientists will go on adding to the bibli¬
ography of the marvelous element. But of Marie
Curie herself, the woman, it is unlikely that the
world will ever read more than the brief notes
which compose this small book.

It is her conviction, her philosophy, that “In
science we should be interested in things, not
persons.”

CHAPTER I

THE CURIE FAMILY. INFANCY AND FIRST
STUDIES OF PIERRE CURIE

Pierre Curie’s parents, who were educated
and intelligent, formed a part of the petite
bourgeoisie of small means. They did not fre¬
quent fashionable society, hut confined them¬
selves entirely to the companionship of their
relatives and a few intimate friends.

Eugene Curie, Pierre’s father, was a physi¬
cian and the son of a physician. He knew very
few kinsmen of his name, and very little about
the Curie family, which was of Alsatian (Eugene
Curie was born at Mulhouse in 1827) and
Protestant origin. Even though his father was
established in London, Eugene had been brought
up in Paris, where he pursued his studies in the
natural sciences and medicine, and worked as
preparator under Gratiollet in the laboratories
of the Museum.

Doctor Eugene Curie’s remarkable personality
impressed a|l who approached him. He was a

tall man, who in youth must have been blonde,

THE CURIE FAMILY

with beautiful blue eyes of a clearness and bril¬
liancy that were striking even in an advanced
old age. These eyes, which had retained a child¬
like expression, reflected goodness and intelli¬
gence. He had indeed unusual intellectual ca¬
pacities, a very live aptitude for the natural
sciences, and the temperament of a scholar.

Although he wished to consecrate his life to
scientific work, family responsibilities following
his marriage and the birth of two sons forced
him to renounce this desire. The necessities of
life obliged him to practice his medical profes¬
sion. He continued, however, such experimental
research as his means permitted, in particular
undertaking an investigation upon inoculation
for tuberculosis at a time when the bacterial
nature of this malady was not yet established.
His scientific avocations developed in him the
habit of making excursions in search of the plants
and animals necessary to his experiments, and
this habit, as well as his love of Nature, gave him
a marked preference for country life. Until the
end of his life he conserved his love for science,
and, without doubt, also, his regret at not hav¬
ing been able to devote himself exclusively to it.

His medical career remained always a modest
one, but it revealed remarkable qualities of de¬
votion and disinterestedness. At the time of the

PIERRE CURIE

Revolution of 1848, when he was still a student,
the Government of the Republic conferred on
him a medal, “for his honorable and courageous
conduct” in serving the wounded. He himself
had been struck, on February 24th, by a ball
which shattered a part of his jaw. A little later,
during a cholera epidemic, he installed himself,
in order that he might look after the sick, in a
quarter of Paris deserted by physicians. During
the Commune he established a hospital in his
apartment (rue de la Visitation) near which
there was a barricade, and there he cared for the
wounded. Through this act of civism and be¬
cause of his advanced convictions he lost a part
of his bourgeois patronage. At this time he
accepted the position of medical inspector of the
organization for the protection of young chil¬
dren. The duties of this post permitted him to
live in the suburbs of Paris where health condi¬
tions for himself and his family were much better
than those of the city.

Doctor Curie had very pronounced political
convictions. Temperamentally an idealist, he had
embraced with ardor that republican doctrine
which inspired the revolutionaries of 1848. He
was united in friendship with Henri Brisson and
the men of his group. Like them, a free thinker
and an anticlerical, he did not have his sons

THE CURIE FAMILY

baptized, nor did he have them practice any
form of religion.

Pierre’s mother, Claire Depouilly, was the
daughter of a prominent manufacturer of
Puteaux, near Paris. Her father and brothers
distinguished themselves through their numer¬
ous inventions connected with the making of
dyes and special tissues. The family, which was
of Savoy, was caught in the business catastrophe
caused by the Revolution of 1848, and ruined.
And these reverses of fortune, added to those
which Doctor Curie had experienced during his
career, meant that he and his family lived always
in comparatively straightened circumstances,
with the difficulties of existence often renewed.
Even though raised for a life of ease, Pierre’s
mother accepted with tranquil courage the pre¬
carious conditions which life brought her, and
gave proof of an extreme devotion as she made
life easier for her husband and children by her
activity and her good will.

If the circumstances in which Jacques and
Pierre grew up were modest and not free from
cares, nevertheless there reigned in the family
an atmosphere of gentleness and affection. In
speaking to me for the first time of his parents,
Pierre Curie said that they were “exquisite.”
They were, in truth, that. The father’s spirit

PIERRE CURIE

was a little authoritative — always awake and
active. And he possessed a rare unselfishness.
He neither wished nor knew how to profit by
personal relations to ameliorate his condition.
He loved his wife and sons tenderly, and was
ever ready to aid all who needed him. The
mother was slight, vivid in character, and, even
though her health had suffered through the birth
of her sons, was always gay and active in the
simple home that she so well knew how to make
attractive and hospitable.

When I first knew them they lived at Sceaux,
rue des Sablons (to-day rue Pierre Curie) in a
little house of ancient construction half con¬
cealed amidst the verdure of a pretty garden.
Their life was peaceful. Doctor Curie went
where his duties called him, either in Sceaux or
in neighboring localities. Beyond this he occu¬
pied himself with his garden or his reading.
Near relatives and neighbors came to visit on
Sundays, when bowling and chess were the
favorite amusements. From time to time Henri
Brisson sought out his old companion in his tran¬
quil retreat. Great calm and serenity enveloped
the garden, the dwelling, and its inhabitants.

Pierre Curie was born the 15th of May, 1859,
in a house facing the Jardin des Plantes, rue
Cuvier, where his parents lived at the time when

THE CURIE FAMILY

his father was working in the Museum labora¬
tories. He was the second son of Doctor Curie
and three and a half years younger than his
brother Jacques. In after life he retained few
particularly characteristic memories of his child¬
hood in Paris; yet he did tell me how vividly
present in his mind were the days of the Com¬
mune, the battle on the barricade so near the
house where he then lived, the hospital estab¬
lished by his father, and the expeditions, on
which his brother accompanied him, in search
of the wounded.

It was in 1883 that Pierre moved with his
parents from the capital to the suburbs of Paris,
living first, from 1883 to 1892, at Fontenay-
aux-Roses, then at Sceaux from 1892 to 1895,
the year of our marriage.

Pierre passed his childhood entirely within the
family circle; he never went to the elementary
school nor to the lycee. His earliest instruction
was given him first by his mother and was then
continued by his father and his elder brother,
who himself had never followed in any complete
way the course of the lycee. Pierre’s intellectual
capacities were not those which would permit the
rapid assimilation of a prescribed course of
studies. His dreamer’s spirit would not submit
itself to the ordering of the intellectual effort

PIERRE CURIE

imposed by the school. The difficulty he experi¬
enced in following such a program was usually
attributed to a certain slowness of mind. He
himself believed that he had this slow mind and
often said so. I think, however, that this belief
was not entirely justified. It seems to me, rather,
that already from his early youth it was necessary
for him to concentrate his thought with great in¬
tensity upon a certain definite object, in order to
obtain a precise result, and that it was impos¬
sible for him to interrupt or to modify the course
of his reflections to suit exterior circumstances.
It is clear that a mind of this kind can hold
within itself great future possibilities. But it is
no less clear that no system of education has
been especially provided by the public school
for persons of this intellectual category, which
nevertheless includes more representatives than
one would believe at first sight.

Very fortunately for Pierre, who could not,
as we can see, become a brilliant pupil in a
fyeee, his parents had a sufficiently keen intelli¬
gence to understand his difficulty, and they re¬
frained from demanding of their son an effort
which would have been prejudicial to his de¬
velopment. If, then, Pierre’s earliest instruction
was irregular and incomplete, it had the advan¬
tage of not so weighing on his intelligence as to

THE CURIE FAMILY

deform it by dogmas, prejudices or preconceived
ideas. And he was always grateful to his parents
for this very liberal attitude. He grew up in
all freedom, developing his taste for natural
science through his excursions into the country,
where he collected plants and animals for his
father. These excursions, which he made either
alone or with one of the family, helped to awake
in him a great love of Nature, a passion which
endured to the end of his life.

Intimate contact with Nature, which, because
of the artificial conditions of city life and of tra¬
ditional education, few children can know, had
a decisive influence on Pierre’s development.
Guided by his father, he learned to observe facts
and to interpret them correctly. He became fa¬
miliar with the animals and plants of the
environs of Paris. He knew which ones could
be found at each season of the year in the forests
and fields, the streams and ponds. The ponds in
particular had for him an ever new attraction
with their characteristic vegetation and their
population of frogs, tritons, salamanders, dragon¬
flies, and other denizens of air and water. No
efforts to obtain the objects of his interests
seemed too great for him. He never hesitated to
take any animal in his hands in order to examine
it more closely. Later, after our marriage, in

PIERRE CURIE

our walks together, if I made some objection to
letting him put a frog into my hands, he would
exclaim: “But no, see how pretty it is!” He
loved always, too, to bring back bouquets of
wild flowers from his walks.

Thus his knowledge of natural history pro¬
gressed rapidly. At the same time, also, he was
mastering the elements of mathematics. His
classical studies, on the contrary, had been much
neglected, and it was principally through gen¬
eral reading that he acquired a knowledge of
literature and history. His father, who was
widely cultured, possessed a library containing
many French and foreign works. Having him¬
self a very pronounced taste for reading, he was
able to communicate it to his son.

When he was about fourteen years old, a very
happy event occurred in Pierre’s education. He
was put under an excellent professor, A. Bazille,
who taught him elementary and advanced mathe¬
matics. This master was able to appreciate his
young pupil, became much attached to him,
and directed his work with the greatest solici¬
tude. He even helped him to advance in his
study of Latin, in which he was very much be¬
hind. At the same time Pierre and Albert
Bazille, his professor’s son, became friends.

This teaching had, I am sure, a great influence

THE CURIE FAMILY

on the mind of Pierre, aiding him to develop and
to sound the depth of his faculties and to realize
his capacities for science. He had a remarkable
aptitude for mathematics, which expressed itself
chiefly by a characteristic geometric spirit and a
great power of spatial vision. He, therefore,
progressed rapidly and joyfully in his studies
under M. Bazille, for whom he always felt an
unalterable gratitude.

He once told me something which proved that
even at this time he was not content solely to
follow a fixed program of studies, but that he had
already begun to launch out into personal in¬
vestigation. Strongly attracted by the theory of
determinants, which he had just mastered, he
undertook to realize an analogous conception,
but in three dimensions, and endeavored to dis¬
cover the properties and uses of these “cubical
determinants.” Needless to say that at his age,
and with the knowledge then at his disposal,
such an enterprise was beyond his powers. The
attempt, however, was none the less indicative
of his awakening inventive spirit.

Several years later, when preoccupied with
reflections upon symmetry, he asked himself the
question : “Could not one find a general method
for the solution of any equation whatever?
Everything is a question of symmetry.” He did

PIERRE CURIE

not then know of Galois’ theory of groups which
had made it possible to attack this problem. But
he was happy later to learn its results in the
geometric applications to the case of equations
of the 5th degree.

Thanks to his rapid progress in mathematics
and physics, Pierre Curie was made a bachelor
of science at the age of sixteen years. With this
he passed his most difficult stage of formal edu¬
cation. The only thing with which he had to
concern himself in the future was the acquisition
of knowledge through his personal and inde¬
pendent effort in a field of science freely chosen.

CHAPTER II

DREAMS OF YOUTH. FIRST SCIENTIFIC WORK.

DISCOVERY OF PIEZO-ELECTRICITY

Pierre Curie was still very young when he
began his higher studies in preparation for
the licentiate in physics. He followed the lec¬
tures and laboratory work at the Sorbonne and
had, besides, access to the laboratory of Pro¬
fessor Leroux in the School of Pharmacy, where
he assisted in the preparation of the physics
courses. At the same time he became further
acquainted with laboratory methods by working
with his brother Jacques, who was then pre-
parator of chemistry courses under Riche and
Jungfleisch.

Pierre received his licentiate in physical sci¬
ences at the age of eighteen. During his studies
he had attracted the attention of Desains, direc¬
tor of the University laboratory, and of Mouton,
assistant director of the same laboratory.
Thanks to their appreciation he was appointed,
when only nineteen years old, preparator for

PIERRE CURIE

Desains and placed in charge of the students’
laboratory work in physics. He held this posi¬
tion five years, and it was during this time that
he began his experimental research.

It is to be regretted that because of his finan¬
cial situation Pierre was obliged, at this early age
of nineteen, to accept the post of preparator
instead of being able to give his whole time for
two or three years longer to his University
studies. With his time thus absorbed by his pro¬
fessional duties and his investigations he had to
give up following the lectures in higher mathe¬
matics, and he therefore passed no further ex¬
aminations. In compensation, however, he was
released from military service in conformity with
the privileges at that time accorded young men
who undertook to serve as teachers in the public-
school system.

He was by this time a tall and slender young
man with chestnut-colored hair and a shy and
reserved expression. At the same time his youth¬
ful face mirrored a profound inner life. One has
such an impression of him as he appears in a
good group photograph of Doctor Curie’s fam¬
ily. His head is resting on his hand in a pose of
abstraction and reverie, and one cannot but be
struck by thfe expression of the large, limpid eyes
that seem to be following some inner vision. Be-

DREAMS OF YOUTH

side him the brown-haired brother offers a strik¬
ing contrast, his vivacious eyes and whole appear¬
ance suggesting decision.

The two brothers loved each other tenderly
and lived as good comrades, being accustomed
to work together in the laboratory and walk to¬
gether in their free hours. They also kept up
affectionate relations with a few of their child¬
hood friends: Louis Depouilly, their cousin,
who became a physician; Louis Vauthier, also
later a physician; and Albert Bazille, who be¬
came an engineer in the post and telegraph
service.

Pierre used to tell me of the vivid memories
he had of the vacations passed at Draveil on the
Seine, where, with his brother Jacques, he took
long walks beside the river, agreeably inter¬
rupted by swimming and diving in the stream.
Both brothers were excellent swimmers. Some¬
times they tramped for entire days. They had,
at an early age, acquired the habit of visiting the
suburbs of Paris on foot. At times also Pierre
made solitary excursions which well suited his
meditative spirit. On these occasions he lost all
sense of time, and went to the extreme limit of
his physical forces. Absorbed in delightful con¬
templation of the things about him, he was
not conscious of material difficulties.

PIERRE CURIE

On the pages of a diary written in 1879, 1
he thus expressed the salutary influence of the
country upon him:

“Oh, what a good time I have passed there in that
gracious solitude, so far from the thousand little
worrying things that torment me in Paris. No, I do
not regret my nights passed in the woods, and my soli¬
tary days. If I had the time I would let myself recount
all my musings. I would also describe my delicious
valley, filled with the perfume of aromatic plants,
the beautiful mass of foliage, so fresh and so humid,
that hung over the Bievre, the fairy palace with its
colonnades of hops, the stony hills, red with heather,
where it was so good to be. Oh, I shall remember
always with gratitude the forest of the Miniere; of
all the woods I have seen, it is this one that I have
loved most and where I have been happiest. Often in
the evening I would start out and ascend again this
valley, and I would return with twenty ideas in my
head.”

Thus, for Pierre Curie, the sensation of well¬
being he experienced in the country was derived
from the opportunity for tranquil reflection.
Daily life in Paris with its numerous interrup¬
tions did not permit of undisturbed concentra¬
tion, and this was to him a cause of inquietude

1 Pierre Curie did not leave a veritable diary but only a
few pages as chance permitted, covering but a short period
of his life.

DREAMS OF YOUTH

and suffering. He felt himself destined for sci¬
entific research; for him the necessity was im¬
perative of comprehending the phenomena of
Nature in order to form a satisfactory theory
to explain them. But when trying to fix his mind
on some problem he had frequently to turn aside
because of the multiplicity of futile things that
disturbed his reflections and plunged him into
discouragement.

Under the heading, “A day like too many
others,” he enumerated in his diary a list of the
puerile happenings that had completely filled
one of his days, leaving no time for useful work.
He then concluded: “There is my day, and I
have accomplished nothing. Why?” Further
on he returns to the same theme under a title
borrowed from Victor Hugo’s “Le Roi S’Amuse,”

“To deafen with little hells the spirit that would
think.”

“In order that, weak one that I am, I shall not let
my head turn with all the winds, yielding to the least
breath that touches it, it is necessary that all should
he immobile about me, or that, like a spinning top,
movement alone should render me insensible to ex¬
ternal objects.

“When, in the process of turning slowly upon my¬
self, I try to gain momentum, a nothing, a word, a
story, a paper, a visit stops me and is able to put off

PIERRE CURIE

or retard forever the moment when, granted a suf¬
ficient swiftness I might have, in spite of my sur¬
roundings, concentrated on my own intention. . . .
We must eat, drink, sleep, be idle, love, touch the
sweetest things of life and yet not succumb to them.
It is necessary that, in doing all this, the higher
thoughts to which one is dedicated remain dominant
and continue their unmoved course in our poor heads.
It is necessary to make a dream of life, and to make
of a dream a reality.”

This acute analysis, sufficiently surprising in
a young man of twenty years, suggests in an
admirable manner the conditions necessary to the
highest manifestations of the intellect. It carries
a lesson which, if it were sufficiently understood,
would facilitate the way of all contemplative
spirits capable of opening new paths for
humanity.

The unity of thought toward which Pierre
Curie strove was troubled not only by profes¬
sional and social obligations but also by his
tastes, which urged him towards a broad literary
and artistic culture. Like his father, he loved
reading, and did not fear to undertake arduous
literary tasks. To some criticism made in this
connection, he responded readily: “I do not
dislike tedious books.” This meant that he was
fascinated by the search after truth which is

DREAMS OF YOUTH

sometimes associated with writing devoid of
charm. He also loved painting and music, and
went gladly to look at pictures or to attend a
concert. A few fragments of poetry in his hand¬
writing were left among his papers.

But all these preoccupations were subordi¬
nated in his mind to what he considered his true
task, and when his scientific imagination was not
in full activity, he felt himself, in a sense, an
incomplete being. He expressed this inquietude
with an emotion born of his suffering during
momentary periods of depression.

“What shall I become?” he wrote. “Very rarely
have I command of all myself; ordinarily a part of
me sleeps. My poor spirit, are you then so weak that
you cannot control my body? Oh, my thoughts, you
count indeed for very little! I should have the great¬
est confidence in the power of my imagination to pull
me out of the rut, but I greatly fear that my imagina¬
tion is dead.”

But despite hesitations, doubts, and lost
moments, the young man was little by little
striking out his path and strengthening his will.
He was resolutely carrying on fruitful investiga¬
tions at an age when many men who were to
become savants were as yet only pupils.

His first work, done in collaboration with

PIERRE CURIE

Desains, concerned the determination of the
lengths of heat waves with the aid of a thermo¬
electric element and a metallic wire grating, a
process, then entirely new, which has since often
been employed in the study of this question.

Following this he undertook an investigation
on crystals in collaboration with his brother, who
had passed his licentiate and was preparator for
Friedel in the laboratory of mineralogy at the
Sorbonne. Their experiments led the two young
physicists to a great success : the discovery of the
hitherto unknown phenomena of piezo-electric¬
ity, which consists of an electric polarization pro¬
duced by the compression or the expansion of
crystals in the direction of the axis of symmetry.
This was by no means a chance discovery. It
was the result of much reflection on the sym¬
metry of crystalline matter, which enabled the
brothers to foresee the possibilities of such polar¬
ization. The first part of the investigation was
made in Friedel’s laboratory. With an experi¬
mental skill rare at their age, the young men
succeeded in making a complete study of the new
phenomenon, established the conditions of sym¬
metry necessary to its production in crystals, and
stated its remarkably simple quantitative laws,
as well as its absolute magnitude for certain
crystals. Sevferal well-known scientists of other

DREAMS OF YOUTH

nations (Roentgen, Kundt, Voigt, Riecke) have
made further investigations along this new road
opened by Jacques and Pierre Curie.

The second part of the work, and much more
difficult to realize experimentally, concerned the
compression resulting in piezo-electric crystals
when they are exposed to the action of an elec¬
tric field. This phenomenon, foreseen by Lipp-
mann, was demonstrated by the Curie brothers.
The difficulty of the experiment lay in the
minuteness of the deformations that had to be
observed. Fortunately Desains and Mouton
placed a small room adjoining the physics lab¬
oratory at the disposal of the brothers so that
they might proceed successfully with their deli¬
cate operations.

From these researches, as much theoretical
as experimental, they immediately deduced a
practical application, in the form of a new appa¬
ratus, a piezo-electric quartz electrometer, which
measures in absolute terms small quantities of
electricity, as well as electric currents of low
intensity. This apparatus has since then ren¬
dered great service in experiments in radio¬
activity.1

1 The piezo-electric property of quartz has recently had
an important application; it has been utilized by P.
Langevin in the production of elastic waves of high fre-

PIERRE CURIE

During the course of their experiments on
piezo-electricity the Curies were obliged to em¬
ploy electrometric apparatus, and, not being able
to use the quadrant electrometer known at that
time, they developed a new form of that instru¬
ment, better adapted to their necessities. This
became known in France as the Curie elec¬
trometer. Thus these years of collaboration be¬
tween the two brothers, always intimately united,
proved both happy and fruitful. Their devotion
and their common interest in science were to
them both a stimulant and a support. During
their work the vivacity and energy of Jacques
were of precious aid to Pierre, always' more
easily absorbed by his thoughts.

However, this beautiful and close collabora¬
tion lasted only a few years. In 1883, Pierre and
Jacques were obliged to separate; Jacques left
for the University of Montpelier as Head Lec¬
turer in Mineralogy ( Maitre de Conferences) .
Pierre was made Director of Laboratory Work in
the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry
founded by the city of Paris at the suggestion of
Friedel and of Schiitzenberger, who became its

quency (beyond sound) sent out in water with the aim of
detecting submarine obstacles. This same method can serve
in a more general manner to explore ocean depths. We
see, here, once ^gain, how pure speculation can lead to
discoveries that will be useful later in unforeseen directions.

DREAMS OF YOUTH

first director,
crystals won
late, it is true

Their remarkable researches with
for the brothers in 1895 — very
— the Plante prize.

CHAPTER III

LIFE AS THE DIRECTOR OF LABORATORY WORK
IN THE SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND CHEMIS¬
TRY. GENERALIZATION OF THE PRINCIPLE
OF SYMMETRY. INVESTIGATIONS OF MAG¬
NETISM

It was in the School of Physics, in the old
buildings of the College Rollin, that Pierre
Curie was destined to work, first as Director of
Laboratory Work, then as Professor, for twenty-
two years, a period covering practically the whole
of his scientific life. His memory seemed to cling
to these old buildings, now destroyed, in which
he had passed all his days, returning only in the
evening to his parents in the country. He
counted himself fortunate since he enjoyed the
favor of the Founder-Director Schiitzenberger,
and the esteem and good will of his students,
many of whom became his disciples and friends.
In alluding to this experience, at the close of an
address delivered at the Sorbonne near the end
of his life, he said:

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 51

“I desire to recall here that we have made all our
investigations in the School of Physics and Chemistry
of the city of Paris. In all creative scientific work
the influence of the surroundings in which one works
is of great importance, and a part of the result is due
to that influence. For more than twenty years I have
worked in the School of Physics and Chemistry.
Schiitzenberger, the first director of the School, was
an eminent scientist. I remember with gratitude that
he procured for me opportunities for my own investi¬
gations when I was yet but an assistant. Later, he per¬
mitted Madame Curie to work beside me, an authori¬
zation which was at that time far from an ordinary
innovation.

“Schiitzenberger allowed us all great liberty; his
direction made itself felt chiefly through his inspiring
love of science. The professors of the School of
Physics and Chemistry, and the students who have
gone from it, have created a kindly and stimulating
atmosphere that has been extremely helpful to me.
It is among the old students of the school that we have
found our collaborators and our friends. I am happy
to be able, here, to thank them all.”

The newly appointed director of the labora¬
tory was, when he first assumed his duties,
scarcely older than his students, who loved him
because of his extreme simplicity of manner,
which was much more that of a comrade than
of a master. Some of these students recall with
emotion their work carried on with him and his

PIERRE CURIE

discussion at the blackboard, where he readily
allowed himself to be led to debate scientific
matters to their great profit both in information
and in kindled enthusiasm. At a dinner given
in 1903 by the Association of Former Students
of the School, which he attended, he laughingly
recalled an incident of this period. One day
after lingering late with several students in the
laboratory, he found the door locked, and they
all had to climb down from the first floor single
file, along a pipe that ran near one of the
windows.

Because of his reserve and shyness he did not
make acquaintances easily, but those whose work
brought them near him loved him because of his
kindliness. This was true of his subordinates
during his entire life. In the school his labora¬
tory helper, whom he had aided under trying cir¬
cumstances, thought of him with the greatest
gratitude, in fact, with veritable adoration.

Although separated from his brother, he re¬
mained bound to him by their former bond of
love and confidence. During vacations, Jacques
Curie would come to him that they might renew
again that valuable collaboration to which both
willingly sacrificed their periods of liberty. At
times it was I^ierre who joined Jacques, who was
engaged in making a geological chart of the

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 53

Auvergne country, and there they covered to¬
gether the daily distances necessary to the trac¬
ing of such a map.

Here are a few memories of these long walks,
extracts from a letter written to me shortly be¬
fore our marriage:

“I have been very happy to pass a little time with
my brother. We have been far from all immediate
care, and so isolated by our manner of living that we
have not even been able to receive a letter, never
knowing one night where we would sleep the next. At
times it seemed to me that we had gone back to the
days when we lived entirely together. Then we always
arrived at the same opinions about all things, with the
result that it was no longer necessary for us to speak
in order to understand each other. This was all the
more astonishing because we differed so entirely in
character.”

From the point of view of scientific investiga¬
tion, one must recognize that the nomination of
Pierre Curie to the School of Physics and Chem¬
istry retarded from the very first his experimental
research. Indeed, at the time of his appointment
nothing yet existed in that establishment;
everything had to be created. Even the walls
and the partitions were hardly yet in place. He
had, therefore, to organize completely the
laboratory and its work, and he acquitted him-

PIERRE CURIE

self of this task in a remarkable manner, inject¬
ing into it the spirit of precision and originality
so characteristic of him.

The direction of the laboratory work of the
large number of students (thirty by promotion)
was alone a strain on a young man, assisted as
he was only by one laboratory helper. The first
years were, therefore, hard years of assiduous
work, of benefit chiefly to the students trained
and developed by the young laboratory
director.

He himself profited by this enforced interrup¬
tion of his experimental research by trying to
complete his scientific studies and, in particular,
his knowledge of mathematics. At the same time
he became engrossed in considerations of a
theoretical nature on the relations between crys¬
tallography and physics.

In 1884 he published a memoir on questions
of the order and repetition that are at the base
of the study of the symmetry of crystals. This
was followed in the same year by a more general
treatment of the same subject. Another article
on symmetry and its repetitions appeared in
1885. In that year he published, too, a very
important theoretical work 1 on the formation

1 In this ver^ brief memoir is presented, for the first
time, a theory which explains why crystals develop certain

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 55

of crystals, and the capillary constants of the
different faces.

This rapid succession of investigations shows
how completely engrossed Pierre Curie was in
the subject of the 'physics of crystals. Both his
theoretical and his experimental research in this
domain grouped itself around a very general
principle, the principle of symmetry, that he had
arrived at step by step, and which he only defi¬
nitely enunciated in memoirs published between
the years 1893 and 1895.

The following is the form, already classic, in
which he made his announcement:

“When certain causes produce certain effects, the
elements of symmetry in the causes ought to reappear
in the effects produced.

“When certain effects reveal a certain dissym¬
metry, this dissymmetry should be apparent in the
causes which have given them birth.

“The converse of these two statements does not
hold, at least practically; that is to say, the effects
produced can he more symmetrical than their
causes.”

The capital importance of this statement, per¬
fect in its simplicity, lies in the fact that the
elements of symmetry which it introduces are

faces simultaneously, in a particular direction, and conse¬
quently why crystals possess a determined form.

PIERRE CURIE

related to all the phenomena of physics without
exception.

Guided by an exhaustive study of the groups
of symmetry which might exist in nature, Pierre
Curie showed how one should use this revelation
in character at once geometric and physical, in
order to foresee whether a particular phenome¬
non can reproduce itself, or whether its repro¬
duction is impossible under the given conditions.
At the beginning of a certain memoir, he insists
in these terms:

“I think it is necessary to introduce into
physics the ideas of symmetry familiar to crys-
tallographers.”

His work in this field is fundamental, and
even though he was led away from it later by
other investigations, he always retained a pas¬
sionate interest in the physics of crystals, as well
asjn projects of further research in this domain.

The principle of symmetry to which Pierre
Curie had so eagerly devoted himself is one of
the small number of great principles which dom¬
inate the study of the phenomena of physics,
and which, having their root in ideas derived by
experiment, yet little by little detach themselves
and assume a form more and more general and
more and mtare perfect. It is in this way that the
idea of the equivalence of heat and of work,

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 57

added to the earlier notion of the equivalence of
kinetic and potential energies, brought about the
establishment of the principle of the conserva¬
tion of energy whose application is entirely
general. In the same way the law of the con¬
servation of mass grew out of the experiments
of Lavoisier, which belong to the foundations
of chemistry. Recently an admirable synthesis
has made it possible for us to attain a still higher
degree of generalization through the union of
these two principles, for it has been proved that
the mass of a body is proportional to its internal
energy. The study of electrical phenomena led
Lippmann to announce the general law of the
conservation of electricity. The principle of
Carnot, born of considerations on the function¬
ing of thermal machines, has acquired also so
general a significance, that it made possible the
foreseeing of the most probable character of
spontaneous evolution for all material systems.

The principle of symmetry furnishes an ex¬
ample of an analogous evolution. To begin with,
observation of Nature was able to suggest the
idea of symmetry; though such observations re¬
veal only imperfectly any regular dispositions in
the aspects of animals and plants. The regular¬
ity becomes very much more perfect in the case
of crystallized minerals. We may consider that

PIERRE CURIE

Nature furnishes us the idea of a plane of sym¬
metry and of an axis of symmetry. An object
possesses a plane of symmetry, or a plane of
reflection, if this plane divides the object into two
parts, of which each one may be thought of as
the image of the other reflected in the plane as
in a mirror. It is this, approximately, that occurs
in the external appearance of man and of
numerous animals. An object possesses an axis
of symmetry of the order n, if it preserves the
same appearance after a rotation on this axis of
the nth part of a revolution. Thus a regular
flower of four petals has an axis of symmetry
of the order four, or a quartemary axis. Crystals
like those of rock salt or of alum possess many
planes of symmetry and many axes of symmetry
of different orders.

Geometry teaches us to study the elements of
symmetry of a limited figure such, for instance,
as a polyhedron; and to discover the relations
between its parts which permit us to reunite
different symmetries in groups. The knowledge
of these groups is of the greatest usefulness in
establishing a rational classification of crystal
forms in a small number of systems each of
which is derived from a simple geometric form.
Thus the regular octahedron belongs to the same
system as the cube, for in the case of each the

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 59

group formed by the axes and the planes of
symmetry is the same.

In the study of the physical properties of crys¬
talline matter it is necessary to take account of
the symmetry of such matter. This is, in gen¬
eral, anisotropic ; that is to say, it has not the
same properties in all directions. On the other
hand, media such as glass or water are isotropic ,
having equivalent properties in all directions. It
was the study of optics which first showed that
the propagation of light in a crystal is dependent
upon the elements of symmetry in that crystal.
The same thing is true for the conduction of
heat or electricity, for magnetization, for polar¬
ization, etc.

It was in reflecting upon the relations be¬
tween cause and effect that govern these
phenomena that Pierre Curie was led to com¬
plete and extend the idea of symmetry, by
considering it as a condition of space char¬
acteristic of the medium in which a given
phenomenon occurs. To define this condition it
is necessary to consider not only the constitu¬
tion of the medium but also its condition of
movement and the physical agents to which it is
subordinated. Thus a right circular cylinder
possesses a plane of symmetry perpendicular to
its axis in its position, and an infinity of planes

PIERRE CURIE

of symmetry pass through its axis. If the same
cylinder is in rotation on its axis, the first plane
of symmetry persists, but all the others are sup¬
pressed. Furthermore, if an electric current
traverses the cylinder lengthwise, no plane of
symmetry remains.

In every phenomenon the elements of sym¬
metry compatible with its existence may be de¬
termined. Certain elements can coexist with
certain phenomena, but they are not necessary
to them. That which is necessary is that certain
ones among these elements shall not exist. It is
dissymmetry that creates the phenomenon.
When several phenomena are superposed in the
same system, the dissymmetries are added to¬
gether. “Works of Pierre Curie,” page 127.

It was from the above considerations that
Pierre Curie announced the general law whose
text, already cited, attains the highest degree
of generalization. The synthesis thus obtained
seems complete, and all that was further needed
was to deduce from it all the developments of
which it admits.

For this it is convenient to define the par¬
ticular symmetry of each phenomenon and to
introduce a classification which makes clear the
principal groups of symmetry. Mass, electric
charge, temperature, have the same symmetry,

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 61

of a type called scalar , that of the sphere. A
current of water and a rectilineal electric current
have the symmetry of an arrow, of the type
polar vector. The symmetry of an upright cir¬
cular cylinder is of the type tensor. All of the
physics of crystals can be expressed in a form in
which the particular phenomena in question are
not specified, but in which are examined only
the geometrical and analytical relations between
the types of quantities where certain ones are
considered as causes and the other as effects.

Thus, the study of electrical polarization by
the application of an electric field becomes the
examination of the relation between two systems
of vectors, and the writing out of a system of
linear equations having 9 coefficients. The same
system of equations holds for the relation be¬
tween an electric field and an electric current
in crystalline conductors ; or for that between the
temperature gradient and the heat current, ex¬
cept that the meaning of the coefficients must be
changed. Similarly, a study of the general rela¬
tions between a vector and a system of tensors
can reveal all the characteristics of piezo-electric
phenomena. And all the rich variety of the phe¬
nomena of elasticity depends on the relation
between two sets of tensors which require, in
principle, 36 coefficients.

PIERRE CURIE

The foregoing brief exposition reveals the
high philosophic import of these conceptions of
symmetry which touch all natural phenomena,
and whose profound significance Pierre Curie
so clearly set forth. It is interesting in this con¬
nection to recall the relation which Pasteur saw
between these same conceptions and the mani¬
festations of life. “The universe,” he said, “is
a dissymmetric whole. I am led to believe that
life, as it is revealed to us, must be a function
of the dissymmetry of the universe, or of the con¬
sequences that it involves.”

As his organization of his work in the School
progressed, Pierre Curie could begin to dream
of going forward again with his experimental
research. He could do so, however, only under
most precarious conditions, for he had not even a
laboratory for his personal work, nor a room of
any kind entirely at his disposition. Besides, he
possessed no funds to support his investigations.
It was only after he had been several years at
the School that he obtained, thanks to the influ¬
ence of Schiitzenberger, a small annual subven¬
tion for his work. Up to that time the materials
necessary for him were provided, thanks to the
kindness of his superiors, to the extent possible,
by drawing .upon a very limited general fund of
the teaching laboratory. As for a place to work

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 63

in, he had to content himself with very little. He
set up certain of his experiments in the rooms of
his pupils when these were not in use. But more
frequently he worked in an outside corridor run¬
ning between a stairway and a laboratory. It was
there that he conducted, in particular, his long
research on magnetism.

This abnormal state of affairs was manifestly
prejudicial to his work, but it had, nevertheless,
the happy result of bringing his students closer
to him, for it allowed them, at times, to share
in his personal scientific interests.

His return to experimental research is marked
by a profound study of the “direct reading
periodic precision balance for least weights.”
(1889, 1890, 1891.) In this balance, the use
of small weights is suppressed by the employ¬
ment of a microscope by means of which one
reads a micrometer attached to the extremity
of one of the arms of the balance. The reading
is made when the oscillation of the balance is
arrested, which can occur very rapidly, thanks
to the use of pneumatic dampeners conveniently
constructed. This balance marks a considerable
advance over old systems. It has shown itself
particularly valuable in laboratories for chemical
analysis, where the rapidity of the weighings is
frequently a test of precision. We can say that

PIERRE CURIE

the introduction of the Curie balances marks an
epoch in the construction of these instruments.
The work done in this field was far from em¬
pirical; it comprised a study of the theory of
damped movements and the construction of
numerous curves established with the aid of some
of his students.

It was toward 1891 that Pierre Curie began
a long series of investigations on the magnetic
properties of bodies at divers temperatures,
from the normal up to 1400° C. These investi¬
gations, covering years, were presented as a
Doctor’s thesis before the Faculty of Sciences of
the University of Paris in 1895. In it he stated
precisely in the following few words the object
and results of his work:

“From the point of view of their magnetic prop¬
erties, bodies may be divided into two groups: dia¬
magnetic bodies, bodies only feebly magnetic, and
paramagnetic bodies.1 At first sight the two groups
seem entirely separate. The principal aim of this re¬
search has been to discover if there exist transitions
between these two states of matter, and if it is possible
to make a given body pass progressively through

1 Paramagnetic bodies are those which are magnetized in
the same manner as iron, either strongly ( ferro-magnetic )
or feebly. Diamagnetic bodies are those whose very feeble
magnetization i\ opposed to that which iron takes in the
same magnetic field.

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 65

them. To determine this I have examined the proper¬
ties of a great number of bodies at temperatures
differing as much as possible, in magnetic fields of
varying intensities.

“My experiments failed to prove any relation be¬
tween the properties of diamagnetic and those of
paramagnetic bodies. And the results support the
theories which attribute magnetism and diamagne¬
tism to causes of a different nature. On the contrary,
the properties of ferro-magnetic bodies and of bodies
feebly magnetic are intimately united.”

This experimental work presented many diffi¬
culties, for it necessitated the measuring of very
minute forces (of the order of 1/100 of a milli¬
gramme weight) within a container where the
temperature could attain 400° C.

As Pierre Curie well understood, the results
he obtained are, from a theoretic point of view,
of fundamental importance. The Curie law, ac¬
cording to which the coefficient of magnetization
of a body feebly magnetized varies in inverse
ratio to the absolute temperature, is a remark¬
ably simple law. It is quite comparable to the
Gay-Lussac law relating to the variation of the
density of a perfect gas with the temperature.
In his well known theory of magnetism P.
Langevin, in 1905, took into account the Curie
law and arrived again, theoretically, at the

PIERRE CURIE

difference between the origins of diamagnetism
and paramagnetism. His work, as well as the
important investigations of P. Weiss, demon¬
strated the accuracy of Pierre Curie’s conclu¬
sions, as well as the importance of the analogy
that he perceived between the intensity of mag¬
netization and the density of a fluid — the para¬
magnetic state being comparable to a gaseous
state, and the ferro-magnetic state to the state of
condensation.

In connection with this work, Pierre Curie
spent some time in the search for unknown phe¬
nomena whose existence did not seem, a priori,
impossible to him. He sought for bodies strongly
diamagnetic, but found none. He tried to dis¬
cover, too, if there were bodies that acted as
conductors of magnetism, and if magnetism can
exist in a “free state,” like electricity. Here also
the result was negative. He never published any
of these investigations, for he had the habit of
thus engaging in the pursuit of phenomena,
often with little hope of success, solely for the
love of the unforeseen, and without ever think¬
ing of publication.

Because of this entirely disinterested passion
for scientific research the presentation of a
doctor’s thqsis which would give an account of
these early investigations had never appealed

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 67

to him. He was already thirty-five years old
when he decided to gather together, in such a
thesis, the results of his beautiful work on
magnetism.

I have a very vivid memory of how he sus¬
tained his thesis before the examiners, for he
had invited me, because of the friendship that
already existed between us, to be present on the
occasion. The jury was composed of Professors
Bonty, Lippmann, and Hautefeuille. In the
audience were some of his friends, among them
his aged father, extremely happy in his son’s
success. I remember the simplicity and the
clarity of the exposition, the esteem indicated by
the attitude of the professors, and the conversa¬
tion between them and the candidate which re¬
minded one of a meeting of the Physics Society.
I was greatly impressed; it seemed to me that
the little room that day sheltered the exaltation
of human thought.

In recalling this period in the life of Pierre
Curie, between 1883 and 1895, we can appre¬
ciate the great progress the young physicist had
made while acting as Chief of Laboratory. He
had succeeded during this time in organizing
an entirely new teaching service; he had pub¬
lished an important series of theoretical memoirs,
as well as the results of experimental research

PIERRE CURIE

of the first order. In addition, he had con¬
structed new apparatus of great perfection — and
all this in spite of very insufficient accommoda¬
tions and resources. This achievement suggests
the distance he had traveled since the doubts
and hesitations of his early youth in learning to
discipline his methods of work, and to derive
from them the full advantage of his exceptional
capacities.

* He enjoyed a growing esteem in France, and
in foreign countries. He was listened to with
interest at the meetings of the learned societies
(Society of Physics, Society of Mineralogy, So¬
ciety of Electricians) , where he was in the habit
of presenting his communications and where he
joined readily in the discussion of various scien¬
tific questions.

Among foreign scholars who already at this
time appreciated him highly, I can name, in the
first place, the illustrious English physicist, Lord
Kelvin, who joined with him in a certain scien¬
tific discussion, and who often expressed for
him, from that time on, both esteem and sym¬
pathy. During one of his visits to Paris, Lord
Kelvin was present at a meeting of the Society
of Physics when Pierre Curie made a statement
regarding the construction and the use of stand¬
ard condensers with guard ring. In this state-

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 69

ment he recommended the use of an apparatus
which involved the charging of the central part
of the guard ring plate by a galvanic cell and in
uniting the guard ring with the earth. One uses
then, as a measure, the charge induced on the
second plate. Even though the resulting disposi¬
tion of lines of the field be complex, the charge
induced can be calculated by a theorem of elec¬
trostatics, with the same simple formula as is
used for an ordinary apparatus in a uniform
field, and one has the benefit of a better isola¬
tion. Lord Kelvin believed at first that this
reasoning was inexact. Despite his great repute
and his advanced age, he went the following day
to the laboratory to find the young Director.
Here he discussed the matter with him before
the blackboard. He was completely convinced,
and seemed even delighted to concede the point
to his companion.1

1 The following is the text of a letter from this distin¬
guished savant to Pierre Curie, written during one of his
visits to Paris:

October, 1893.

“Dear Mr. Curie:

“I am much obliged to you for your letter of Sat¬
urday and the information contained in it, which is
exceedingly interesting to me.

“If I call at your laboratory between 10 and 11
tomorrow morning should I find you there? There are
two or three things I would like to speak to you
about; and I would like also to see more of your curves

PIERRE CURIE

It may seem astonishing that Pierre Curie, in
spite of his merits, continued during twelve
years in the small position of Chief of Labora¬
tory. Without doubt this was largely due to the
fact that it is easy to overlook those who have
not the active support of influential persons. It
was due also to the fact that it was impossible
for him to take the many steps that the pushing
of any candidature involves. Then, too, his in¬
dependence of character ill fitted him to ask for
an advance, and this notwithstanding the fact
that his position was very modest. Indeed his
salary, then comparable to that of a day laborer
(about 300 francs a month), was scarcely suffi¬
cient to enable him to lead the simple life that
would yet permit him to carry on his work.

He expressed his feelings on this subject in
the following words :

“I have heard that perhaps one of the professors
will resign, and that I might, in that case, make appli¬
cation to succeed him. What an ugly necessity is this
of seeking any position whatsoever; I am not accus¬
tomed to this form of activity, demoralizing to the
highest degree. I am sorry that I spoke to you about
it. I think that nothing is more unhealthy to the spirit

representing the magnetization of iron at different

temperatures.

V' “Yours truly,

“Kelvin.”

LIFE AND LABORATORY WORK 71

than to allow oneself to be occupied by things of this
character and to listen to the petty gossip that people
come to report to you.”

If he disliked soliciting an advancement in
position, he was even less inclined to hope for
honors. He had, in fact, a very decided opinion
on the subject of honorary distinctions. Not
only did he believe that they were not helpful,
hut he considered them frankly harmful. He
felt that the desire to obtain them is a cause of
trouble, and that it can degrade the worthiest
aim of man, which is, work for the pure love
of it.

Since he possessed great moral probity, he
did not hesitate to make his acts conform to his
opinions. When Schiitzenberger, in order to
offer him a mark of esteem, wished to propose
him for the Palmes academiques he refused this
distinction, despite the advantages which, ac¬
cording to general belief, it would confer. And
he wrote to his director:

“I have been informed that you intend to propose
me again to the prefet for the decoration. I pray you
do not do so. If you procure for me this honor, you
will place me under the necessity of refusing it, for I
have firmly decided not to accept a decoration of any
kind. I hope that you will he good enough to avoid
taking a step that will make me appear a little ridicu-

PIERRE CURIE

lous in the eyes of many people. If your aim is to
offer me a testimony of your interest, you have al¬
ready done that, and in a very much more effective
manner which touched me greatly, for you have made
it possible for me to work without worry.”

Faithful to this firm opinion, he later declined
the decoration of the Legion d’Honneur, which
was offered him in 1903.

But even though Pierre Curie refused to take
steps to change his situation it was at last im¬
proved. In 1895 the well-known physicist,
Mascart, professor in the College de France,
impressed with his ability, and with Lord Kel¬
vin’s opinion of him, insisted that Schiitzen-
berger create a new Chair of Physics at the
School of Physics and Chemistry. Pierre Curie
was then named professor under conditions in
which his talents were duly recognized. How¬
ever, nothing was done at this time to ameliorate
the inadequate material conditions under which,
as we have already seen, he was carrying on his
personal investigations.

CHAPTER IV

MARRIAGE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE FAMILY
LIFE. PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

X met Pierre Curie for the first time in the
spring of the year 1894. I was then living in
Paris where for three years 1 1 had been study¬
ing at the Sorbonne. I had passed the exami¬
nations for the licentiate in physics, and was
preparing for those in mathematics. At the
same time I had begun to work in the research
laboratory of Professor Lippmann. A Polish
physicist whom I knew, and who was a great
admirer of Pierre Curie, one day invited us
together to spend the evening with himself and
his wife.

As I entered the room, Pierre Curie was
standing in the recess of a French window open-

1 The following are a few brief biographical details:

My name is Marie Sklodowska. My father and mother
belonged to Catholic Polish families. Both were teachers
in secondary schools in Warsaw (at that time under
Russia). I was born in Warsaw and attended a lycee there.
Following the lycee, I taught several years. Then in 1892
I came to Paris in order to study science.

. 73

PIERRE CURIE

ing on a balcony. He seemed to me very young,
though he was at that time thirty-five years old.
I was struck by the open expression of his face
and by the slight suggestion of detachment in
his whole attitude. His speech, rather slow and
deliberate, his simplicity, and his smile, at once
grave and youthful, inspired confidence. We be¬
gan a conversation which soon became friendly.
It first concerned certain scientific matters
about which I was very glad to be able to ask
his opinion. Then we discussed certain social
and humanitarian subjects which interested us
both. There was, between his conceptions and
mine, despite the difference between our native
countries, a surprising kinship, no doubt at¬
tributable to a certain likeness in the moral
atmosphere in which we were both raised by our
families.

We met again at the Physics Society and in
the laboratory. Then he asked if he might call
upon me. I lived at that time in a room on the
sixth floor of a house situated near the schools.
It was a poor little room, for my resources were
extremely limited. I was, nevertheless, very
happy in it for I was now first realizing, although
already twenty-five years old, the ardent desire
I had so long cherished of carrying on advanced
studies in science.

THE FAMILY LIFE

Pierre Curie came to see me, and showed a
simple and sincere sympathy with my student
life. Soon he caught the habit of speaking to
me of his dream of an existence consecrated
entirely to scientific research, and he asked me
to share that life. It was not, however, easy for
me to make such a decision, for it meant separa¬
tion from my country and my family, and the
renouncement of certain social projects that
were dear to me. Having grown up in an at¬
mosphere of patriotism kept alive by the oppres¬
sion of Poland, I wished, like many other young
people of my country, to contribute my effort
toward the conservation of our national spirit.

So matters stood, when at the beginning of
my vacation I left Paris to go to my father in
Poland. Our correspondence during this sepa¬
ration helped to strengthen the bond of affection
between us.

During the year 1894 Pierre Curie wrote me
letters that seem to me admirable in their form.
No one of them was very long, for he had the
habit of concise expression, but all were written
in a spirit of sincerity and with an evident
anxiety to make the one he desired as a com¬
panion know him as he was. The very quality
of the expression has always seemed to me re-
\ markable. No other one could describe in a few

PIERRE CURIE

lines, as he could, a state of mind, or a situation,
and by the simplest means make that description
evoke a seizing image of truth. Because of this
gift, he might, I believe, have been a great
writer. I have already cited a few fragments of
his letters, and others will follow. It is appro¬
priate to quote here a few lines which express
how he looked on the possibility of our marriage :

“We have promised each other (is it not true?) to
have, the one for the other, at least a great affection.
Provided that you do not change your mind! For
there are no promises which hold; these are things
that do not admit of compulsion.

“It would, nevertheless, be a beautiful thing in
which I hardly dare believe, to pass through life to¬
gether hypnotized in our dreams: your dream for
your country; our dream for humanity; our dream
for science. Of all these dreams, I believe the last,
alone, is legitimate. I mean to say by this that we are
powerless to change the social order. Even if this
were not true we should not know what to do. And in
working without understanding we should never be
sure that we were not doing more harm than good, by
retarding some inevitable evolution. From the point
of view of science, on the contrary, we can pretend to
accomplish something. The territory here is more solid
and obvious, and however small it is, it is truly in our
possession.

“I strongly advise you to return to Paris in Octo¬
ber. I shall he very unhappy if you do not come this

THE FAMILY LIFE

year, but it is not my friend’s selfishness that makes
me ask you to return. I ask it because I believe you
will work better here and that you can accomplish
here something more substantial and more useful.”

One can understand, from this letter, that for
Pierre Curie there was only one way of looking
at the future. He had dedicated his life to his
dream of science: he felt the need of a com¬
panion who could live his dream with him. He
told me many times that the reason he had not
married until he was thirty-six was because he
did not believe in the possibility of a marriage
which would meet this, his absolute necessity.

When he was twenty-two years old he wrote
in his diary:

“Women, much more than men, love life for life’s
sake. Women of genius are rare. And when, pushed
by some mystic love, we wish to enter into a life op¬
posed to nature, when we give all our thoughts to
some work which removes us from those immediately
about us, it is with women that we have to struggle,
and the struggle is nearly always an unequal one. For
in the name of life and of nature they seek to lead
us back.”

We can see, however, in the letters I have
quoted earlier, the unshakeable faith that Pierre
Curie had in science and in its power to further

PIERRE CURIE

the general good of humanity. It seems appro¬
priate to apply to him the sentiment expressed
by Pasteur in words so well known: “I believe
invincibly that science and peace will triumph
over ignorance and war.”

This confidence in the solutions of science
made Pierre Curie little inclined to take an
active part in politics. He was attached, by
education and by conviction, to democratic and
socialistic ideas, but he was not dominated by
any party doctrine. However, he always ful¬
filled, as his father did, his obligations as a
voter. In public life, as in private life, he was
opposed to the use of violence.

“What would you think,” he wrote me, “of a per¬
son who would knock his head against a stone wall
with the intention of overthrowing it? Such an idea
might be the result of very beautiful feelings, but in
realization it would be ridiculous and stupid. I be¬
lieve that certain questions demand a general solu¬
tion, and do not admit, today, of specific solutions,
and that one who begins a course that has no issue,
may do much harm. I believe, further, that justice
is not of this world, and that the strongest system or
rather the one best developed from the economic point
of view will be that which will stand. A man may
exhaust himself by work, and yet live, at best, miser¬
ably. This is a revolting fact, but it will not, because
of that, ceasfe. It will disappear probably because

THE FAMILY LIFE

man is a kind of machine, and it is of economic ad¬
vantage to make every machine work in its normal
manner, without forcing it.”

He felt the same necessity for clarity and
understanding in considering his own inner life
as in examining a general problem. A great
necessity of loyalty to himself and toward others
made him suffer from the compromises imposed
by life, even though he reduced them to a
minimum.

“We are all the slaves of our affections,” he wrote,
“slaves of the prejudices of those we love. Besides,
we must make a living, and this forces us to become
a wheel in the machine. The most painful are the con¬
cessions we are forced to make to the prejudices of
the society in which we live. We must make more or
fewer compromises according as we feel ourselves
feebler or stronger. If one does not make enough con¬
cessions he is crushed; if he makes too many he is
ignoble and despises himself. I find myself far from
the principles I held ten years ago. At that time I be¬
lieved it necessary to be excessive in everything, and
to make no concessions whatsoever to one’s environ¬
ment. I believed it necessary to exaggerate one’s
faults as well as one’s virtues.”

This was the credo of the man who, without
fortune himself, desired to share his life with

PIERRE CURIE

that of a student also without fortune, whom he
had met by chance.

After my return from my vacation our friend¬
ship grew more and more precious to us; each
realized that he or she could find no better life
companion. We decided, therefore, to marry,
and the ceremony took place in July, 1895. In
conformity with our mutual wish it was the
simplest service possible, — a civil ceremony, for
Pierre Curie professed no religion, and I myself
did not practice any. My husband’s parents
received me with great cordiality, and recipro¬
cally my father and my sisters, who were present
at our marriage, were happy in knowing the
family to which I was to belong.

Our first home, an extremely simple one,
consisted of a little apartment of three rooms in
the rue de la Glaciere, not far from the School
of Physics. Its chief attraction was its view of
a large garden. It was furnished very simply
with objects that had belonged to our families.
Our means did not permit our having servants',
so that I had to assume practically all the house¬
hold duties, as I had been in the habit of doing

furing my student days.

Professor Curie’s salary was 6000 francs a
year, and weyheld that he should not undertake
any supplementary work, at least in the be-

THE FAMILY LIFE

ginning. As for myself, I was preparing to take
the examination for the agregation of young
women, in view of obtaining a teaching post.
These I passed in 1896. We ordered our life
to suit our scientific work and our days were
passed in the laboratory, where Schiitzenberger
permitted that I might work with my husband.

He was then engaged in a research on the
growth of crystals, which interested him keenly.
He wished to know if certain faces of a crystal
had a preferential development chiefly because
they have a different rapidity of growth or be¬
cause their solubility is different. He quickly
obtained interesting results (not published) but
he had to interrupt his investigations to under¬
take others on radioactivity. And he often re¬
gretted that he was never able to return to them.
I was occupied at this time with the study of the
magnetization of tempered steel.

The preparation of his class lectures was for
Pierre Curie a genuine care. The Chair was a
new one, and carried no prescribed course of
study. He divided his lectures, at first, between
crystallography and electricity. Then, as he
recognized more and more the utility of a serious
theoretical course in electricity for future engi¬
neers, he devoted himself entirely to this subject,
and succeeded in establishing a course (of about

PIERRE CURIE

120 lectures) that was the most complete and
modern then to be had in Paris. This cost him
a considerable effort, of which I was the daily
witness; for he was always anxious to give a
complete picture of the phenomena and of the
evolution of theories, and of ideas. He was
always anxious, too, that his mode of exposition
should he clear and precise. He thought of
publishing a treatise summing up this course,
but unfortunately the many preoccupations of
the following years prevented him from putting
this plan into execution.

We lived a very single life, interested in com¬
mon, as we were, in our laboratory experiments
and in the preparation of lectures and examina¬
tions. During eleven years we were scarcely
ever separated, which means that there are very
few lines of existing correspondence between us,
representing that period. We spent our rest
days and our vacations walking or bicycling
either in the country near Paris, or along the
sea, or in the mountains. My husband was so
engrossed in his researches, however, that it was
very difficult for him to remain for any length
of time in a place where he lacked facilities for
work. After a few days he would say: “It seems
to me a very long time since we have accom¬
plished anything.” And yet he liked the ex-

THE FAMILY LIFE

cursions which covered successive days, and
enjoyed to the full our walks together, just as
he had formerly enjoyed those with his brother.
But his joy in seeing beautiful things never drew
his thoughts away from the scientific questions
that absorbed him. In these free times, we
traversed the region of the Cevennes and of the
Monts d’Auvergne, as well as the coast of
France, and some of its great forests.

These days in the open, filled with beautiful
sights, made a deep impression on us, and we
loved to recall them. One of our radiant mem¬
ories was of a sunny day, when after a long and
wearying climb, we reached the fresh, green
meadow of the Aubrac, in the pure air of the
high plateaus. Another vivid memory was that
of an evening, when, lingering until twilight in
the gorge of the Truyere, we were enchanted to
hear a popular air dying away in the distance,
carried to us from a little boat that descended
the stream. We had taken so little notice of the
time that we did not regain our lodging before
dawn. At one point we had an encounter with
carts whose horses were frightened by our
bicycles, and we were obliged to cut across
ploughed fields. At length we regained our
route on the high plateau, bathed in the unreal
light of the moon. And cows that were passing

PIERRE CURIE

the night in enclosures came gravely to con¬
template us with their large, tranquil eyes.

The forest of Compiegne charmed us in the
spring, with its mass of green foliage stretching
far as the eye could see, and its periwinkles and
anemones. On the border of the forest of Fon¬
tainebleau, the banks of the Loing, covered with
water buttercups, were an object of delight for
Pierre Curie. We loved the melancholy coasts
of Brittany and the reaches of heather and gorse,
stretching to the very points of Finistere, which
seemed like claws or teeth burying themselves
in the water which forever rages at them.

Later, when we had our baby with us, we
passed our vacations in some one locality, with¬
out traveling about. We lived then as simply
as possible in retired villages where we could
scarcely be distinguished from the villagers
themselves. I remember the stupefaction of an
American journalist when he found us one day
at Pouldu, at a moment when I was sitting on
one of the stone steps of our house in the act of
shaking the sand from my sandals. However,
his embarrassment was short-lived and, adapting
himself to the situation, he sat down beside me
and began jotting down in his notebook my
answers to his questions.

The most affectionate relations existed be-

THE FAMILY LIFE

tween my husband’s parents and myself. We
often went to Sceaux, where the room my hus¬
band used to have before our marriage was al¬
ways reserved for us. I had also a very tender
affection for Jacques Curie and his family (he
was married and had two children) ; for Pierre’s
brother became mine, and has always re¬
mained so.

Our eldest daughter, Irene, was born in Sep¬
tember, 1897, and only a few days afterwards
my husband suffered a great loss in the death of
his mother. Doctor Curie came to live with us
in a house which had a garden and was situated
on the old fortifications of Paris (108 Boulevard
Kellermann) near the park of Montsouris.
Pierre Curie lived in this house until the end
of his life.

With the birth of our child, the difficulties of
carrying on our work were augmented: for I had
to give more time to the household. Very for¬
tunately for us I could leave my little girl with
her grandfather, who much enjoyed taking care
of her. But we had to think also of increasing
our resources to meet the needs of our larger
family and to enable us to secure someone to
help me in the house, a necessity from now on.
However, our situation remained as it was dur¬
ing the following two years, which we conse-

PIERRE CURIE

crated to intensive laboratory research on radio¬
activity. It was, indeed, not relieved until
1900, to the detriment, it is true, of the amount
of time we could give to our investigations.

All formal social obligations were excluded
from our life. Pierre Curie had for such things
an unconquerable repugnance. Neither in his
earlier nor his later life would he pay visits or
undertake to involve himself in relations without
special interest. By nature grave and silent, he
preferred to abandon himself to his own reflec¬
tions, rather than to engage in an exchange of
banal words. On the other hand, he valued
greatly his boyhood friends, and those to whom
he was bound by a common interest in science.

Among the latter, E. Gouy, professor of the
faculty of sciences at Lyon, should be named.
His friendly relations with Pierre Curie dated
from the time when they were both preparators
at the Sorbonne. They carried on regularly a
scientific correspondence, and took great pleas¬
ure in seeing each other again during the various
brief visits of E. Gouy to Paris, on which occa¬
sions they were inseparable. There existed also
a friendship of long standing between my hus¬
band and Ch. Ed. Guillaume, now director of
the International Bureau of Weights and Meas¬
ures of Sevres. They met at the Physics Society

THE FAMILY LIFE

and occasionally on Sundays at Sevres or
Sceaux. Later a group of younger men formed
themselves about Pierre Curie. They were in¬
vestigators engaged, as he was, in physical and
'chemical research in the newest fields of these
sciences. Among these men were Andre De-
bierne, my husband’s intimate friend and col¬
laborator in the work on radioactivity; George
Sagnac, his collaborator in a study of the X-rays ;
Paul Langevin, who became a professor in the
College de France; Jean Perrin, at present pro¬
fessor of physical chemistry in the Sorbonne;
and Georges Urbain, student of the School of
Physics and later professor in the Sorbonne.
Often one or the other came to see us in our quiet
house in ijie -Boulevard Kellermann. Then we
engaged in discussions of recent or future ex¬
periments, or of new ideas and theories, and
never tired of rejoicing over the marvelous de¬
velopment of modern physics.

There were not many large reunions in our
house, for my husband did not feel the need of
them. He was more at his ease in a conversa¬
tion with some one or few persons, and rarely
attended any meetings except those of the scien¬
tific societies. If by chance he found himself
in a gathering where the general conversation
did not interest him, he took refuge in a tranquil

PIERRE CURIE

corner where he could forget the company as he
pursued his own thoughts.

Our relations with our families were very re¬
stricted on his side as on mine; for he had few
relatives and mine were far away. He was,
however, very devoted to those of my family
who could come to visit me in Paris, or during
our vacations.

In 1899, Pierre Curie made a journey with
me to the Carpathians of Austrian Poland, where
one of my sisters, married to Doctor Dluski and
herself a physician, directed, with him, a large
sanatorium. Through a touching desire to know
all that was dear to me, my husband, though he
knew little of foreign languages, wished to learn
Polish, something which I had not thought of
suggesting because I did not believe it could
prove sufficiently useful to him. He felt a sin¬
cere sympathy for my country and believed in
the future reestablishment of a free Poland.

In our life together it was given to me to
know him as he had hoped I might, and to pene¬
trate each day further into his thought. He was
as much and much more than all I had dreamed
at the time of our union. My admiration of his
unusual qualities grew continually; he lived on
a plane so rare and so elevated that he sometimes
seemed to me a being unique in his freedom

THE FAMILY LIFE

from all vanity and from the littlenesses that one
discovers in oneself and in others, and which one
judges with indulgence although aspiring to a
more perfect ideal.

In this lay, without doubt, the secret of that
infinite charm of his to which one could not
long rest insensible. His thoughtful expression
and the directness of his look were strongly at¬
tractive and this attraction was increased by his
kindliness and gentleness of character. He
sometimes said that he never felt combative, and
this was entirely true. One could not enter into
. a dispute with him because he could not become
angry. “Getting angry is not one of my strong
points,” he would say, smiling. If he had few
friends, he had no enemies; for he could not
injure anyone, even by inadvertence. But at
the same time no one could force him to deviate
from his line of action, something which led his
father to nickname him the “gentle stubborn
one.”

When he expressed his opinion he did so
frankly, for he was convinced that diplomatic
methods are puerile, and that directness is at
once easiest and best. Because of this practice,
he acquired a certain reputation for naivete; in
reality he was acting on a well-considered deci¬
sion, rather than by instinct. It was perhaps

PIERRE CURIE

because he was able to judge himself and to re¬
tire within himself, that he was so capable of
clearly appreciating the springs of action, the
intention, and the thoughts of others. And if
he sometimes neglected details, he was rarely
deceived in the essentials. Usually he kept his
sure judgments to himself; but once he had
made up his mind he sometimes expressed them
without reticence, in the assurance that he was
doing something useful.

In his scientific relations he showed no sharp¬
ness, and did not permit himself to be influenced
by considerations of personal credit or by per¬
sonal sentiments. Every beautiful success gave
him pleasure, even if achieved in a domain
where he felt himself to have priority. He said:
“What does it matter if I have not published
such and such investigations, if another has
published them?” For he held that in science
we should be interested in things and not in
persons. He was so genuinely against every
form of emulation that he opposed even the com¬
petitions and gradings of the lycees, as well as
all forms of honorary distinction. He never
failed to give counsel and encouragement to any
of those who showed an aptitude for science,
and certain aipong them still remain profoundly
grateful to him.

THE FAMILY LIFE

If his attitude was that of one of the elite who
have attained the highest summit of civilization,
his acts were those of a truly good man endowed
with the sentiment of human solidarity inti¬
mately bound to his intellectual conceptions,
and full of understanding and indulgence. He
was always ready to aid, as far as his means al¬
lowed, any person in a difficult situation, even
if helping meant giving some of his time, which
was always the greatest sacrifice he could make.
His generosity was so spontaneous that one
scarcely noticed it. He believed that the only
advantage of material means, beyond that of
providing the necessities of a simple life, was
in the opportunity they offered of aiding others,
and of pursuing the work of one’s preference.

What shall I say, finally, of his love for his
own, and of his qualities as friend? His friend¬
ship, which he gave rarely, was sure and faithful,
for it rested on a community of ideas and opin¬
ions. And still more rarely did he give affec¬
tion ; but how complete was his gift to his brother
and to me! He could forsake his customary
reserve for an unconstraint which established
harmony and confidence. His tenderness was
the most exquisite of blessings, sure and helpful,
full of gentleness and solicitude. It was good to
be surrounded by this tenderness; it was cruel

PIERRE CURIE

to lose it after having lived in an atmosphere
completely permeated by it. But I will let his
own words tell how completely he gave himself :

“I think of you who fill my life, and I long for new
powers. It seems to me that in concentrating my mind
exclusively upon you, as I am doing, that I should
succeed in seeing you, and in following what you are
doing; and that I should be able to make you feel
that I am altogether yours at this moment, — but the
image does not come.”

We were not warranted in having great con¬
fidence in our health, nor in our strength so
often put to severe tests. And from time to
time, as happens to those who know the value
of sharing a common life, the fear of the irrepar¬
able touched our minds. In such moments his
simple courage led him always to the same inevi¬
table conclusion: “Whatever happens, even if
one should become like a body without a soul,
still one must always work.”

CHAPTER V

THE DREAM BECOME A REALITY. THE DIS¬
COVERY OF RADIUM

I have already said that in 1897 Pierre Curie
was occupied with an investigation on the
' growth of crystals. I myself had finished, by
the beginning of vacation, a study of the mag¬
netization of tempered steels which had resulted
in our getting a small subvention from the So¬
ciety for the Encouragement of National Indus¬
try. Our daughter Irene was born in September,
and as soon as I was well again, I resumed my
work in the laboratory with the intention of
preparing a doctor’s thesis.

Our attention was caught by a curious phe¬
nomenon discovered in 1896 by Henri Bec-
querel. The discovery of the X-ray by Roentgen
had excited the imagination, and many physi¬
cians were trying to discover if similar rays were
not emitted by fluorescent bodies under the
action of light. With this question in mind
Henri Becquerel was studying uranium salts,
and, as sometimes occurs, came upon a phe-

PIERRE CURIE

nomen on different from that he was looking for:
the spontaneous emission by uranium salts of
rays of a peculiar character. This was the dis¬
covery of radioactivity.

The particular phenomenon discovered by
Becquerel was as follows: uranium compound
placed upon a photographic plate covered with
black paper produces on that plate an impres¬
sion analogous to that which light would make.
The impression is due to uranium rays that
traverse the paper. These same rays can, like
X-rays, discharge an electroscope, by making the
air which surrounds it a conductor.

Henri Becquerel assured himself that these
properties do not depend on a preliminary isola¬
tion, and that they persist when the uranium
compound is kept in darkness during several
months. The next step was to ask whence came
this energy, of minute quantity, it is true, but
constantly given off by uranium compounds
under the form of radiations.

The study of this phenomenon seemed to us
very attractive and all the more so because the
question was entirely new and nothing yet had
been written upon it. I decided to undertake
an investigation of it.

It was necessary to find a place iiN which to
conduct the experiments. My husbahd ob-

Henri Manuel, Paris

Pierre and Marie Curie in their laboratory, where radium was discovered

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM

tained from the director of the School the
authorization to use a glassed-in study on the
ground floor which was then being used as a
storeroom and machine shop.

In order to go beyond the results reached by
Becquerel, it was necessary to employ a precise
quantitative method. The phenomenon that
best lent itself to measurement was the conducti-
bility produced in the air by uranium rays. This
phenomenon, which is called ionization , is pro¬
duced also by X-rays and investigation of it in
connection with them had made known its
principal characteristics.

For measuring the very feeble currents that
one can make pass through air ionized by
uranium rays, I had at my disposition an excel¬
lent method developed and applied by Pierre
and Jacques Curie. This method consists in
counterbalancing on a sensitive electrometer the
quantity of electricity carried by the current
with that which a piezo-electric quartz can fur¬
nish. The installation therefore required a
Curie electrometer, a piezo-electric quartz, and
a chamber of ionization, which last was formed
by a plate condenser whose higher plate was
joined to the electrometer, while the lower plate,
charged with a known potential, was covered
with a thin layer of the substance to be exam-

PIERRE CURIE

ined. Needless to say, the place for such an
electrometric installation was hardly the crowded
and damp little room in which I had to set it up.

My experiments proved that the radiation of
uranium compounds can be measured with
precision under determined conditions, and that
this radiation is an atomic property of the
element of uranium. Its intensity is propor¬
tional to the quantity of uranium contained in
the compound, and depends neither on condf
tions of chemical combination, nor on external
circumstances, such as light or temperature.

I undertook next to discover if there were
other elements possessing the same property,
and with this aim I examined all the elements
then known, either in their pure state or in com¬
pounds. I found that among these bodies,
thorium compounds are the only ones which
emit rays similar to those of uranium. The
radiation of thorium has an intensity of the same
order as that of uranium, and is, as in the case
of uranium, an atomic property of the element.

It was necessary at this point to find a new
term to define this new property of matter mani¬
fested by the Elements of uranium and thorium.
I proposed the word radioactivity which has
since become generally adopted; the radioactive
elements have been called radio elements.

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM

During the course of my research, I had had
occasion to examine not only simple compounds,
salts and oxides, but also a great number of
minerals. Certain ones proved radioactive;
these were those containing uranium and tho¬
rium; but their radioactivity seemed abnormal,
for it was much greater than the amount I had
found in uranium and thorium had led me to
expect.

This abnormality greatly surprised us. When
I had assured myself that it was not due to an
error in the experiment, it became necessary to
find an explanation. I then made the hypothesis
that the ores uranium and thorium contain
in small quantity a substance much more
strongly radioactive than either uranium or
thorium. This substance could not be one of
the known elements, because these had already
been examined; it must, therefore, be a new
chemical element.

I had a passionate desire to verify this hy¬
pothesis as rapidly as possible. And Pierre
Curie, keenly interested in the question, aban¬
doned his work on crystals (provisionally, he
thought) to join me in the search for this un¬
known substance.

We chose, for our work, the ore pitchblende,
a uranium ore, which in its pure state is about

*>8 PIERRE CURIE

four times more active than oxide of uranium.

Since the composition of this ore was known
through very careful chemical analysis,' we could
expect to find, at a maximum, 1 per cent of new
substance. The result of our experiment proved
that there were in reality new radioactive ele¬
ments in pitchblende, but that their proportion
did not reach even a millionth per cent !

The method we employed is a new method
in chemical research based on radioactivity. It
consists in inducing separation by the ordinary
means of chemical analysis, and of measuring,
under suitable conditions, the radioactivity of
all the separate products. By this means one
can note the chemical character of the radioac¬
tive element sought for, for it will become con¬
centrated in those products which will become
more and more radioactive as the separation pro¬
gresses. We soon recognized that the radioac¬
tivity was concentrated principally in two
different chemical fractions, and we became able
to recognize in pitchblende the presence of at
least two new radioactive elements : polonium
I and radium. We announced the existence of
I polonium in July, 1898, and of radium in De¬
cember of the same year.1

1 This last publication was issued in common with G.
Bemont, who had collaborated with us in our experiments.

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM

In spite of this relatively rapid progress, our
work was far from finished. In our opinion,
there could be no doubt of the existence of these
new elements, but to make chemists admit their
existence, it was necessary to isolate them.
Now, in our most strongly radioactive products
(several hundred times more active than
uranium), the polonium and radium were pres¬
ent only as traces. The polonium occurred as¬
sociated with bismuth extracted from pitch¬
blende, and radium accompanied the barium
extracted from the same mineral. We already
knew by what methods we might hope to sepa¬
rate polonium from bismuth and radium from
barium; but to accomplish such a separation we
had to have at our disposition much larger
quantities of the primary ore than we had.

It was during this period of our research that
we were extremely handicapped by inadequate
conditions, by the lack of a proper place to work
in, by the lack of money and of personnel.

Pitchblende was an expensive mineral, and
we could not afford to buy a sufficient quantity.
At that time the principal source of this min¬
eral was at St. Joachimsthal (Bohemia) where
there was a mine which the Austrian govern¬
ment worked for the extraction of uranium.
We believed that we would find all the radium

100

PIERRE CURIE

and a part of the polonium in the residues of
this mine, residues which had so far not
been used at all. Thanks to the influence of the
Academy of Sciences of Vienna, we secured sev¬
eral tons of these residues at an advantageous
price, and we used it as our primary material.
In the beginning we had to draw on our private
resources to pay the costs of our experiment;
later we were given a few subventions and some
help from outside sources.

The question of quarters was particularly
serious; we did not know where we could
conduct our chemical treatments. We had been
obliged to start them in an abandoned storeroom
across a court from the workroom where we
had our electrometric installation. This was a
wooden shed with a bituminous floor and a glass
roof which did not keep the rain out, and with¬
out any interior arrangements. The only objects
it contained were some worn pine tables, a cast-
iron stove, which worked badly, and the black¬
board which Pierre Curie loved to use. There
were no hoods to carry away the poisonous gases
thrown off in our chemical treatments, so that it
was necessary to carry them on outside in the
court, but when the weather was unfavorable we
went on withHhem inside, leaving the windows
open.

. A

view of the extraction of radium in the old shed where the first radium was obtained

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM 101

In this makeshift laboratory we worked prac¬
tically unaided during two years, occupying our¬
selves as much with chemical research as with
the study of the radiation of the increasingly
active products we were obtaining. Then it be¬
came necessary for us to divide our work.
Pierre Curie continued the investigations on the
properties of radium, while I went ahead with
the chemical experiments which had as their
objective the preparation of pure radium salts.
I had to work with as much as twenty kilo¬
grammes of material at a time, so that the hangar
was filled with great vessels full of precipitates
and of liquids. It was exhausting work to move
the containers about, to transfer the liquids, and
to stir for hours at a time, with an iron bar,
the boiling material in the cast-iron basin. I ex¬
tracted from the mineral the radium-bearing
barium and this, in the state of chloride, I
submitted to a fractional crystallization. The
radium accumulated in the least soluble parts,
and I believed that this process must lead to the
separation of the chloride of radium. The very
delicate operations of the last crystallizations
were exceedingly difficult to carry out in that
laboratory, where it was impossible to find
protection from the iron and coal dust. At the
end of a year, results indicated clearly that it

102

PIERRE CURIE

would be easier to separate radium than polo¬
nium; that is why we concentrated our efforts
in this direction. We examined the radium salts
we obtained with the aim of discovering their
powers and we loaned samples of the salts to
several scientists,1 in particular to Henri
Becquerel.

During the years 1899 and 1900, Pierre
Curie published with me a memoir on the dis¬
covery of the induced radioactivity produced by
radium. We published another paper on the
effects of the rays: the luminous effects, the
chemical effects, etc.; and still another on the
electric charge carried by certain of the rays.
And, finally, we made a general report on the
new radioactive substances and their radiations,

1 1 quote, as an example, a letter addressed to Pierre
Curie by A. Paulsen, thanking him for radioactive products
loaned him in 1899:

“Den Damke Nordl’s Expedition
Akureyi, 16 Oct. 1899.
Monsieur, and most honored colleague,

“I thank you warmly for your letter of August 1,
which I have just received in the north of Iceland.

“We have abandoned all the methods hitherto em¬
ployed to establish in a fixed conductor the potential
that exists at certain points in the mass of air that
surrounds it, and are using only your radiant powder.

“Accept, Monsieur, and most honored colleague, my
respectful salutations and my renewed thanks for the
great services you have rendered my expedition.

“Adam Paulsen.”

Pierre Curie with the quartz piezo-electroscope he invented, by which rays of

radium are measured

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM 103

for the Congress of Physics which met in Paris
in 1900. My husband published, besides, a
study of the action of a magnetic field on radium
rays.

The main result of our investigations and of
those of other scientists during these years, was
to make known the nature of the rays emitted
by radium, and to prove that they belonged
to three different categories. Radium emits a
stream of active corpuscles moving with great
speed. Certain of them carry a positive charge
and form the Alpha rays; others, much smaller,
carry a negative charge and form Beta rays.
The movements of these two groups are in¬
fluenced by a magnet. A third group is con¬
stituted by the rays that are insensible to the
action of a magnet, and that, we know to-day,
are a radiation similar to light and to X-rays.

We had an especial joy in observing that our
products containing concentrated radium were
all spontaneously luminous. My husband who
had hoped to see them show beautiful colora¬
tions had to agree that this other unhoped-for
characteristic gave him even a greater satisfac¬
tion than that he had aspired to.

//The Congress of 1900 offered us an oppor¬
tunity to make known, at closer range, to foreign
scientists, our new radioactive bodies. This was

PIERRE CURIE

104

one of the points on which the interest of this
Congress chiefly centered.

We were at this time entirely absorbed in the
new field that opened before us, thanks to the
discovery so little expected. And we were very
happy in spite of the difficult conditions under
which we worked. We passed our days at the
laboratory, often eating a simple student’s lunch
there. A great tranquillity reigned in our poor,
shabby hangar; occasionally, while observing an
operation, we would walk up and down talking
of our work, present and future. When we were
cold, a cup of hot tea, drunk beside the stove,
cheered us. We lived in a preoccupation as
complete as that of a dream.

Sometimes we returned in the evening after
dinner for another survey of our domain. Our
precious products, for which we had no shelter,
were arranged on tables and boards; from all
sides we could see their slightly luminous sil¬
houettes, and these gleamings, which seemed
suspended in the darkness, stirred us with ever
new emotion and enchantment.

Actually, the employees of the School owed
Pierre Curie no service. But nevertheless the
laboratory helper whom he had had to aid him
when he wa^ laboratory chief had always con¬
tinued to help him as much as he could in

view of the extraction of radium in the old shed where the first radium was obtained

■

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM 105

the time at his disposaj. This good man, whose
name was Petit, felt a real affection and solici¬
tude for us, and many things were made easier
because of his good will and the interest he
took in our success.

We had begun our research in radioactivity
quite alone, but because of the magnitude of the
undertaking, we were more and more convinced
of the utility of inviting collaboration. Already
in 1898, one of the laboratory chiefs of the
School, G. Bemont, had given us temporary aid.

\ And toward 1900 Pierre Curie associated with
\ him a young chemist, Andre Debierne, p£gpa^-Ac' “'
tor under Friedel, who held him in high esteem.
Andre Debierne gladly accepted Pierre Curie’s
proposal that he occupy himself with the in¬
vestigation of radioactivity; and he undertook,
in particular, the search for a new radio element,
which we suspected existed in the iron group
and in rare earths. He discovered the element
actinium. Even though he carried on his work
in the laboratory of physical chemistry at the
Sorbonne, directed by Jean Perrin, he frequently
came to visit us in our storeroom, and was soon
an intimate friend of ours, and of Doctor Curie
and the children, r

About this same time, George Sagnac, a
young physicist engaged in the study of X-rays,

106

PIERRE CURIE

often came to discuss with my husband the
analogies one could expect to find between these
rays, and their secondary rays, and the radia¬
tions of radioactive bodies. They worked to¬
gether on the investigation of the electric charge
carried by the secondary rays.

Besides our collaborators we saw very few
persons in the laboratory; however, from time
to time some physicist or chemist came to see our
experiments, or to ask Pierre Curie for advice
or information; for his authority in several
branches of physics was very well recognized.
And then there were discussions before the
blackboard, — discussions which are pleasantly
remembered to-day, because they stimulated an
interest in science and an ardor for work without
interrupting any course of reflection, and with¬
out troubling that atmosphere of peace and con¬
templation which is the true atmosphere of the
laboratory.

CHAPTER VI

THE STRUGGLE FOR MEANS TO WORK. THE
BURDEN OF CELEBRITY. THE FIRST ASSIST¬
ANCE FROM THE STATE. IT COMES TOO LATE

In spite of our desire to concentrate our entire
effort on the work in which we were engaged,
and in spite of the fact that our needs were so
modest, we were forced to recognize, toward
1900, that some increase in our income was in¬
dispensable. Pierre Curie had few illusions
about his chances of obtaining an important chair
in the University of Paris, which would, even
though it meant no large salary, have sufficed
for the small needs of our family, and enabled
us to live without a supplementary revenue.
Since he was neither a graduate of the Normal
School nor of the Polytechnic, he lacked the
support, often decisive, which these big schools
give their pupils; and the posts to which he
might justly have aspired, because of his
achievements, were given to others, without
anyone’s even thinking of him as a possible
candidate. At the beginning of 1898, he asked,

107

108

PIERRE CURIE

without success, for the Chair of Physical Chem¬
istry left vacant by the death of Salet, and this
failure convinced him that he had no chance of
advancement. He was appointed, however, in
March, 1900, to the position of assistant pro¬
fessor ( repetiteur ) in the Polytechnic School,
but he kept his post only six months.

In the spring of 1900, there came an un¬
expected offer, that of the Chair of Physics in
the University of Geneva. The doyen of that
University made the invitation in the most cor¬
dial manner, and insisted that the University
was ready to make an exceptional effort to secure
a scientist of such high repute. The advantages
of this position were that the salary was larger
than the average one, that it carried the promise
of the development of a Physics Laboratory ade¬
quate to our needs, and that an official position
for me would be provided in this laboratory.
Such a proposition merited a most careful con¬
sideration, so we made a visit to the University
of Geneva, where our reception was the most
encouraging possible.

This was a grave decision for us to make.
Geneva presented material advantages, and the
opportunity of a life comparable in its tran¬
quillity with that in the country. Pierre Curie
was, therefore, tempted to accept, and it was

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 109

only our immediate interest in our researches in
radium that made him finally decide not to. He
feared the interruption of our investigations
which such a change must involve.

At this moment the Chair of Physics in the
physics, chemistry and natural history course at
the Sorbonne, obligatory for students of medi¬
cine, and familiarly known as P.C.N., was va¬
cant; he applied, and was appointed, due to the
influence of Henri Poincare, who was anxious to
free him from the necessity of quitting France.
At the same time I was given charge of the
physics lectures in the Normal School for Girls
at Sevres.

So we remained in Paris, and with our income
increased. But we were at the same time work¬
ing under increasingly difficult conditions.
Pierre Curie was doing double teaching; and
that in the P.C.N., with its very large number
of students, fatigued him greatly. As for myself,
I had to give much time to the preparation of
my lectures at Sevres, and to the organization
of the laboratory work there, which I found very
insufficient.

Moreover, Pierre Curie’s new position did not
bring with it a laboratory; a little office and a
single work room were all that he had at his
disposition in the annex (12 rue Cuvier) of the

110

PIERRE CURIE

Sorbonne, which served as teaching quarters for
the P.C.N. And yet he felt it absolutely neces¬
sary to go ahead with his own work. In fact, the
rapid extension of his investigations in radio¬
activity had made him determine that in his new
position at the Sorbonne he would receive stu¬
dents and start them in research. He therefore
took steps to find larger available working quar¬
ters. Those who have taken similar steps realize
the wall of financial and administrative obstacles
against which he was throwing himself, and
realize the large number of official letters, visits,
and of requests the least success entailed. All
this thoroughly wearied and discouraged Pierre
Curie. He was obliged, too, constantly, to keep
traveling back and forth between the labora¬
tories of the P.C.N. and the hangar of the School
of Physics where we still continued our work.

And besides these difficulties, we found that
we could not make further progress without the
aid of industrial means of treating our raw ma¬
terial. Fortunately certain expedients and gen¬
erous assistance solved this question.

As early as 1899 Pierre Curie succeeded in
organizing a first industrial experiment, using
for it a chance installation placed at his disposi¬
tion by the Central Society of Chemical Prod¬
ucts, with which he had had relations in connec-

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 111

tion with the construction of his balances. The
technical details had been arranged very success¬
fully by Andre Debierne, and the operations
brought good results, even though it had been
necessary to train a special personnel for this
chemical work which demanded special precau¬
tions.

Our investigations had started a general
scientific movement, and similar work was being
undertaken in other countries. Toward these
efforts Pierre Curie maintained a most disinter¬
ested and liberal attitude. With my agreement
he refused to draw any material profit from
our discovery. We took no copyright, and pub¬
lished without reserve all the results of our re¬
search, as well as the exact processes of the
preparation of radium. In addition, we gave to
those interested whatever information they
asked of us. This was of great benefit to the
radium industry, which could thus develop in
full freedom, first in France, then in foreign
countries, and furnish to scientists and to
physicians the products which they needed.
This industry still employs to-day, with scarcely
any modifications, the processes indicated
by us.1

1 During my recent visit to America, where a gramme of
radium was generously offered me by American women, the

PIERRE CURIE

•>

112

Even though our industrial experiment
yielded good results, again our slender resources
made it difficult to make further progress. In¬
spired by our attempt, a French industrial,
Armet de Lisle, had the idea, which seemed
daring at that epoch, of founding a veritable
radium factory that would furnish this product
to physicians, whose interest in the biological
effects of radium and its possible therapeutic
applications had been aroused by the publica¬
tion of various investigations. The project
proved a success because he could employ men
already trained by us in the delicate processes
of this manufacture. Radium was then regu¬
larly placed on sale, at a high price, it is true,
because of the special conditions under which it
had to be made, and because, too, of the imme¬
diate rise in the cost of the minerals necessary
to its production.1

I should like to express, here, our apprecia¬
tion of the spirit in which Armet de Lisle offered
to cooperate with us. In an entirely disinterested

Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences presented me, as a
souvenir, with a publication reviewing the development of
the radium industry in the United States. This included
photographic reproductions of letters from Pierre Curie in
which he replied in as complete a manner as possible to the
questions asked by American engineers. (1902 and 1903.)

1 The price of a milligramme of the element of radium
was then fixed at about 750 francs.

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 113

manner he placed at our disposition a little work¬
ing place in his factory and a part of the means
necessary for us to use it. Other funds were
added either by ourselves, or came through
subventions, of which the most important, ac¬
corded in 1902 by the Academy of Sciences,
amounted to 20,000 francs.

It was in this way that we were able to utilize
the ore we had acquired little by little in the
preparation of a certain quantity of radium,
which we used constantly in our research. The
radium-bearing barium was extracted in the
factory, and I carried on its purification and
fractional crystallization in the laboratory. In
1902 I succeeded in preparing a decigramme of
chloride of pure radium which gave only the
spectrum of the new element, radium. I made
a first determination of the atomic weight of this
new element, an atomic weight much higher
than that of barium. Thus the chemical indi¬
viduality of radium was completely established,
and the reality of radioelements was a known
fact about which there could be no further
controversy.

I based my doctor’s thesis, presented in 1903,
on these investigations.

Later, the quantity of radium extracted for
the laboratory was increased, and in 1907 I

114

PIERRE CURIE

was able to make a second and more precise
determination of the atomic weight as 225.35 —
one accepts now the number 226. I succeeded,
too, jointly with Andre Debierne, in obtaining
radium in the state of metal. The total quantity
of radium I prepared and gave to the laboratory,
in agreement with Pierre Curie’s desire,
amounted to more than a gramme of radium
element.

The activity of pure radium exceeded all our
expectations. For equal weights this substance
emits a radiation more than a million times more
intense than uranium. To offset this, the quan¬
tity of radium contained in uranium minerals is
scarcely more than three decigrammes of radium
to the ton of uranium. There is a very close
relation between these two substances. In fact,
we know to-day that radium is produced in the
minerals at the expense of uranium.

The years that followed his nomination to the
P.C.N. were hard for Pierre Curie. He had to
face the many anxieties incident to the organiza¬
tion of a complicated system of work when his
happiness depended on his being able to con¬
centrate his efforts on a single determined sub¬
ject. The physical fatigue due to the numerous
courses he was obliged to give was so great that
he suffered from attacks of acute pain, which in

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 115

his overtaxed condition became more and more
frequent.

It was therefore vitally important, if he was to
spare his energy and keep his health, that the
burden of his professional duties be lightened.
He decided to apply for the Chair of Mineralogy,
which was vacant, at the Sorbonne, for which he
was entirely qualified because of his profound
knowledge and his important publications on
the theories of the physics of crystals. Yet his
candidacy failed.

During this painful period he nevertheless
managed, by a truly superhuman effort, suc¬
cessfully to complete and publish several in¬
vestigations that he had made either alone or in
collaboration :

Investigations on induced radioactivity (in collab¬
oration with A. Debieme).

Investigations on the same subject (in collabora¬
tion with J. Danne).

Investigations on the conductibility provoked in
dielectric liquids by the rays of radium and the
Roentgen rays.

Investigations on the law of the decrease of the
emanation of radium and on the radioactive
constants that characterize this emanation and
its active deposit.

Discovery of the liberation of heat produced by
radium (in collaboration with A. Laborde).

116

PIERRE CURIE

Investigations on the diffusion of the emanation of
radium* in the air (in collaboration with J.
Danne) .

Investigation on the radioactivity of gases from
thermal springs (in collaboration with A.
Laborde).

Investigation on the physiological effects of
radium rays (in common with Henri Bec-
querel ) .

Investigation on the physiological action of the
radium emanation (in common with Bouchard
and Balthazard).

Notes on the apparatus for the determination of
magnetic constants (in common with C. Chene-
veau).

All these investigations in radioactivity are
fundamental and touch very varied subjects.
Several have as their aim the study of the
emanation, that strange gaseous body that
radium produces and which is largely respon¬
sible for the intense radiation commonly at¬
tributed to the radium itself. Pierre Curie
demonstrated by a searching examination the
rigorous and invariable law according to which
the emanation destroys itself, no matter what the
conditions are in which it finds itself. To-day
the emanation of radium, harvested in tiny
phials, is commonly employed by physicians as
a therapeutic agent. Technical considerations

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 117

make its employment preferable to the direct
use of radium, and in this case no physician can
proceed without consulting the numerical chart
which tells how much of this emanation has
disappeared each day, despite the fact that it is
cloistered in its little glass prison. It is this
same emanation that is found in small quantities
in mineral waters, and that plays a part in their
curative effects.

More striking still was the discovery of the
discharge of heat from radium. Without any
alteration in appearance this substance releases
each hour a quantity of heat sufficient to melt its
own weight of ice. When well protected against
this external loss, radium heats itself. Its tem¬
perature can rise 10 degrees or more above that
of the surrounding atmosphere. This defied all
contemporary scientific experience.

Finally, I cannot pass in silence, because of
their various repercussions, the experiments
connected with the physiological effects of
radium.

In order to test the results that had just been
announced by F. Giesel, Pierre Curie volun¬
tarily exposed his arm to the action of radium
during several hours. This resulted in a lesion
resembling a burn, that developed progressively
and required several months to heal. Henri

118

PIERRE CURIE

Becquerel had by accident a similar burn as a
result of carrying in his vest pocket a glass tube
containing radium salt. He came to tell us of
this evil effect of radium, exclaiming in a man¬
ner at once delighted and annoyed: “I love it,
but I owe it a grudge!”

Since he realized the interest in these physi¬
ological effects of radium, Pierre Curie under¬
took, in collaboration with physicians, the
investigations to which I have just referred,
submitting animals to the action of radium
emanation. These studies formed the point of
departure in radium therapy. The first attempts
at treatment with radium were made with prod¬
ucts loaned by Pierre Curie, and had as their
object the cure of lupus and other skin lesions.
Thus radium therapy, an important branch of
medicine, and frequently designated as Curie-
therapie , was born in France, and was developed
first through the investigations of French physi¬
cians (Danlos, Oudin, Wickham, Dominici,
Cheron, Degrais, and others).1

1 These physicians were aided by the manufacturer,
Armet de Lisle, who placed at their disposition the radium
needed for their first undertakings. He founded, besides, in
1906, a laboratory for clinical study, provided with a sup¬
ply of radium. And he subventioned the first special publi¬
cation devoted to radioactivity and its applications, as a
journal under the name Radium, edited by J. Danne. This
is an example of generous support of science by industry, in

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 119

In the meantime the great impetus given to
the study of radioactivity abroad led to a rapid
succession of new discoveries. Many scientists
engaged in the search for other radio elements,
using the new method of chemical analysis, with
the aid of radiation, that we had inaugurated.
Thus were found the mesothorium now used by
physicians and manufactured industrially, radio¬
thorium, ionium, protoactinium, radio-lead, and
other substances. At present we know, in all,
about thirty radio elements (among which three
are gases, or emanations), but among them all
radium still plays the most important part, be¬
cause of the great intensity of its radiation, which
diminishes only extremely slowly during the
course of years.

The year 1903 was especially important in
the development of the new science. In this year
the investigation of radium, the new chemical
element, was achieved, and Pierre Curie demon¬
strated the astonishing discharge of heat by this
element, which nevertheless remained unaltered
in appearance. In England, Ramsay and Soddy
announced a great discovery. They proved that
radium continually produces helium gas and

reality still very rare but which one wishes might become
general, in the common interest of these two branches of
human activity.

120

PIERRE CURIE

under conditions that force one to believe in an
atomic transformation. If, indeed, radium salt
heated to its melting point is confined for some
time in a sealed glass tube, entirely emptied of
air, one can, in reheating it, make it throw off a
small quantity of helium, easy to measure and
to recognize from the character of its spectrum.
This fundamental experiment has received nu¬
merous confirmations. It furnished us the first
example of a transformation of atoms, inde¬
pendent, it is true, of our will, but at the same
time it reduces to nothing the theory of the
absolute fixity of the atomic edifice.

All these facts, along with others formerly
known, were made the object of a synthesis of the
highest value, in a work by E. Rutherford and F.
Soddy, who proposed a theory of radioactive trans¬
formations, to-day universally adopted. Accord¬
ing to this theory, each radio element, even when
it appears unchanged, is undergoing a sponta¬
neous transformation, and the more rapid the
transformation, the more intense is the radiation.1

A radioactive atom can transform itself in two
ways : it can expel from itself an atom of helium,

1 The hypothesis according to which radioactivity is
bound up with the atomic transformation of elements was
first envisaged by Pierre Curie and by me, along with other
possible hypotheses, before it was utilized by E. Rutherford.
(See Revue Scientijique, 1900, Mme. Curie, etc.)

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 121

which, thrown off at an enormous speed and
with a positive charge, constitutes an Alpha ray.
Or, instead, it can detach from its structure a
much smaller fragment, one of those electrons
to which we have become accustomed in modern
physics, and whose mass, 1800 times smaller
than that of an atom of hydrogen when its
speed is moderate, grows excessively when its
speed approaches that of light. These electrons,
which carry a negative charge, form the Beta
rays. Whatever the detached fragment, the
residual atom no longer resembles the primitive
atom. Thus when the atom of radium has ex¬
pelled an atom of helium, the residue is an atom
of gaseous emanation. This residue changes in
its turn, and the process is not arrested until the
attainment of a last residue which is stable
and does not give off any radiation. This stable
matter is inactive matter.

Thus the Alpha and Beta rays result from the
fragmentation of atoms. Gamma-rays are a radia¬
tion analogous to light, which accompanies the
cataclysm of the atomic transformation. They
are very penetrating, and are the ones most used
in the therapeutic methods so far developed.1

1 By using the unusual energy of Alpha-rays E. Ruther¬
ford has obtained recently the rupture of certain light atoms,
like those of nitrogen.

122

PIERRE CURIE

We can see in all this that radio elements
form families, in which each member derives
from a preceding member by direct descent the
primary elements being uranium and thorium.
We can in particular prove that radium is a
descendant of uranium, and that polonium is a
descendant of radium. Since each radio element,
at the same time that it is formed by the mother
substance, destroys itself, it cannot accumulate
in the presence of this mother substance beyond
a determined proportion, which explains why
the relation between radium and uranium re¬
mains constant in the very ancient unaltered
minerals.

The spontaneous destruction of radio ele¬
ments takes place according to a fundamental
law, called the , exponential law, according to
which the quantity of each radio element dimin¬
ishes by one-half in a time always the same,
called a period, this time-period making it pos¬
sible to determine without ambiguity the ele¬
ment under consideration. These periods, which
can be measured by diverse methods, vary
greatly. The period of uranium is several bil¬
lions of years; that of radium is about 1600
years; that of its emanation a little less than four
days; and tl^ere are among the following de¬
scendants some whose period is the small

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 123

fraction of a second. The exponential law has a
profound philosophic bearing; it indicates that
the transformation is produced according to the
laws of probability. The causes that determine
the transformation are a mystery to us, and we
do not yet know if they derive from causal con¬
ditions outside the atom, or from conditions of
internal instability. In many cases, up to the
present, no exterior action has shown itself
effective in influencing the transformation.

This rapid succession of discoveries which
overthrew familiar scientific conceptions long
held in physics and chemistry did not fail to
meet, at first, with doubts and incredulity. But
the great part of the scientific world received
them with enthusiasm. At the same time Pierre
Curie’s fame grew in France and in foreign
countries. Already in 1901 the Academy of
Sciences had awarded him the Lacaze prize. In
1902, Mascart, who had many times given him
/ most valuable aid, decided to propose him as a
member of the Academy of Sciences. It was not
easy for Pierre Curie to agree to this, believing,
as he did, that the Academy should elect its
members without the necessity of any prelimi¬
nary solicitation or paying of calls. Neverthe¬
less, because of the friendly insistence of
Mascart, and above all because the Physics

124

PIERRE CURIE

Section of the Academy had already declared
itself unanimously in his favor, he presented
I himself. In spite of this, however, he failed of
election, and it was only in 1905 that he became
a member of the Institute, a membership which
did not last even a year. He was also elected to
several academies and scientific societies in other
countries, and given an honorary doctor’s degree
by several universities.

During 1903 we went to London at the invi¬
tation of the Royal Institution, before which my
husband was to lecture on radium. On this oc¬
casion he had a most enthusiastic reception. He
was especially happy to see here again Lord
Kelvin, who had always expressed an affection
for him, and who, despite his advanced age,
preserved an interest, perennially young, in
science. The illustrious scientist showed, with
touching satisfaction, a glass vial containing a
grain of radium salt that Pierre Curie had given
him. We met here also other celebrated scien¬
tists, as Crookes, Ramsay, and J. Dewar. In
collaboration with the latter, Pierre Curie pub¬
lished investigations on the discharge of heat
by radium at very low temperatures, and upon
the formation of helium in radium salt.

A few months later the Davy medal was con¬
ferred upon {iim (and also upon me) by the

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 125

Royal Society of London, and at almost the same
time, we received, together with Henri Bec-
querel, the Nobel prize for physics. Onr health
prevented us from attending the ceremony for
the awarding of this prize in December, and it
was only in June, 1905, that we were able to
go to Stockholm where Pierre Curie gave his
Nobel lecture. We were most cordially received
and had the felicity of seeing the admirable
Swedish nature in its most brilliant aspect.

The award of the Nobel prize was an impor¬
tant event for us because of the prestige carried
by the Nobel foundation, only recently founded
(1901). Also, from a financial point of view,
the half of the prize represented an important
sum. It meant that in the future Pierre Curie
could turn over his teaching in the School of
Physics to Paul Langevin, one of his former
students, and a physicist of great competence.
He could also engage a preparator to aid him in
his work.

But at the same time the publicity this very
happy event entailed bore very heavily on a man
who was neither prepared for it, nor accustomed
to it. There followed an avalanche of visits, of
letters, of demands for articles and lectures,
which meant a constant enervation, fatigue, and
loss of time. He was kind and did not like to

126

PIERRE CURIE

refuse a request; but on the other hand, he had
to recognize that he could not accede to the
solicitations that overwhelmed him without dis¬
astrous results to his health, as well as to his
peace of mind, and his work. In a letter to
Ch. Ed. Guillaume, he said:

“People ask me for articles and lectures, and after
a few years are passed, the very persons who make
these demands will be astonished to see that we have
not accomplished any work.”

And in other letters of the same period, writ¬
ten to E. Gouy, he expressed himself as follows:

“20 March 1902

“As you have seen, fortune favors us at this
moment; but these favors of fortune do not come
without many worries. We have never been less tran¬
quil than at this moment. There are days when we
scarcely have time to breathe. And to think that we
dreamed of living in the wild, quite removed from
human beings!”

“22 January 1904

“My dear Friend:

“I have wanted to write to you for a long time;
excuse me if I have not done so. The cause is the
stupid life which I lead at present. You have seen this
sudden infatuation for radium, which has resulted for
us in all the advantages of a moment of popularity.

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 127

We have been pursued by journalists and photogra¬
phers from all countries of the world; they have gone
even so far as to report the conversation between my
daughter and her nurse, and to describe the black-
and-white cat that lives with us. . . . Further, we
have had a great many appeals for money. . . .
Finally, the collectors of autographs, snobs, society
people, and even at times, scientists, have come to see
us — in our magnificent and tranquil quarters in the
laboratory — and every evening there has been a
voluminous correspondence to send off. With such a
state of things I feel myself invaded by a kind of
stupor. And yet all this turmoil will not perhaps have
been in vain, if it results in my getting a chair and
a laboratory. To tell the truth, it will be necessary
to create the chair, and I shall not have the labora¬
tory at first. I should have preferred the reverse, but
Liard wishes to take advantage of the present moment
to bring about the creation of a new chair that will
later be acquired for the university. They are to es¬
tablish a chair without a fixed program, which will be
something like a course in the College de France, and
I believe I shall be obliged to change my subject each
year, which will be a great trial to me.”

“31 January 1905

“ . . I have had to give up going to Sweden. We
are, as you see, most irregular in our relations with
the Swedish Academy; but, to tell the truth, I can only
keep up by avoiding all physical fatigue. And my
wife is in the same condition; we can no longer dream
of the great work days of times gone by.

128

PIERRE CURIE

“As to research, I am doing nothing at present.
With my course, my students, apparatus to install,
and the interminable procession of people who come
to disturb me without serious reason, the days pass
without my having been able to achieve anything use¬
ful at this end.”

“25 July 1905

“My Dear Friend:

“We have regretted so much being deprived of
your visit this year, but hope to see you in October.
If we do not make an effort from time to time, we end
by losing touch with our best and most congenial
friends, and in keeping company with others for the
simple reason that it is easy to meet them.

“We continue to lead the same life of people who
are extremely occupied, without being able to accom¬
plish anything interesting. It is now more than a
year since I have been able to engage in any research,
and I have no moment to myself. Clearly I have not
yet discovered a means to defend ourselves against
this frittering away of our time which is nevertheless
extremely necessary. Intellectually, it is a question of
life or death.”

“7 November 1905

“I begin my course tomorrow but under very bad
conditions for the preparation of my experiments.
The lecture room is at the Sorbonne, and my labora¬
tory is in the rue Cuvier. Besides, a great number of
other courses are given in the same lecture room, and
I can use it only one morning for the preparation of
my own.

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 129

“I am neither very well, nor very ill; but I am
easily fatigued, and I have left but very little ca¬
pacity for work. My wife, on the contrary, leads a
very active life, between her children, the School at
Sevres, and the laboratory. She does not lose a min¬
ute, and occupies herself more regularly than I can
with the direction of the laboratory in which she
passes the greater part of the day.”

To sum up: despite these outside complica¬
tions, our life, by a common effort of will, re¬
mained as simple and as retired as formerly.
Toward the close of 1904 our family was in¬
creased by the birth of a second daughter. Eve
Denise was horn in the modest house in Boule¬
vard Kellermann, where we still lived with
Doctor Curie, seeing only a few friends.

As our elder daughter grew up, she began to
be a little companion to her father, who took a
lively interest in her education and gladly went
for walks with her in his free times, especially
on his vacation days. He carried on serious con¬
versations with her, replying to all her questions
and delighting in the progressive development
of her young mind. From their early age, his
children enjoyed his tender affection, and he
never wearied of trying to understand these little
beings, in order to be able to give them the best
he had to give.

130

PIERRE CURIE

With his great success in other countries, the
complete appreciation of Pierre Curie in France,
however tardily, did at last follow. At forty-five
he found himself in the first rank of French
scientists and yet, as a teacher, he occupied an
inferior position. This abnormal state of affairs
aroused public opinion in his favor, and under
the influence of this wave of feeling, the director
of the Academy of Paris, L. Liard, asked Parlia¬
ment to create a new professorship in the Sor-
bonne, and at the beginning of the academic
year 1904-05 Pierre Curie was named titular
professor of the Faculty of Sciences of Paris.
A year later he definitely quitted the School of
Physics where his substitute, Paul Langevin,
succeeded him.

This new professorship was not established
without a few difficulties. The first project had
provided for a new chair, but not for a labora¬
tory. And Pierre Curie felt that he could not
accept a situation which involved the risk of
losing even the mediocre means of work that he
then had, instead of offering better ones. He
wrote, therefore, to his chiefs, that he had de¬
cided to remain at the P.C.N. His firmness won
the day. To the new chair was added a fund for
a laboratory and personnel for the new work
(a chief of labohitory, a preparator, and a labora-

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 131

tory boy). The position of chief of laboratory
was offered to me, which was a cause of very
great satisfaction to my husband.

It was not without regret that we left the
School of Physics, where we had known such
happy work days, despite their attendant diffi¬
culties. We had become particularly attached
to our hangar, which continued to stand, though
in a state of increasing decay, for several years,
and we went to visit it from time to time. Later
it had to be pulled down to make way for a new
building for the Physics School, but we have
preserved photographs of it. Warned of its ap¬
proaching destruction by the faithful Petit, I
made my last pilgrimage there, alas, alone. On
the blackboard there was still the writing of him
who had been the soul of the place; the hum¬
ble refuge for his research was all impregnated
with his memory. The cruel reality seemed some
bad dream; I almost expected to see the tall
figure appear, and to hear the sound of the
familiar voice.

Even though Parliament had voted the
creation of a new chair, it did not go so far as to
consider the simultaneous founding of a labora¬
tory which was, nevertheless, necessary to the
development of the new science of radioactivity.
Pierre Curie therefore kept the little workroom

132

PIERRE CURIE

at the P.C.N., and secured as a temporary solu¬
tion of his difficulty the use of a large room, then
not being used by the P.C.N. He arranged, too,
to have a little building consisting of two rooms
and a study set up in the court.

One cannot help feeling sorrow in realizing
that this was a last concession, and that
actually one of the first French scientists never
had an adequate laboratory to work in, and this
even though his genius had revealed itself as
early as his twentieth year. Without doubt if he
had lived longer, he would have had the benefit
of satisfactory conditions for his work, but ho
was -still deprived of them at his death at the
premature age of forty-eight. Can we fully
imagine the regret of an enthusiastic and dis¬
interested worker in a great work, who is re¬
tarded in the realization of his dream by the
constant lack of means? And can we think
without a feeling of profound grief of the waste
— the one irreparable one — of the nation’s
greatest asset: the genius, the powers, and the
courage of its best children?

Pierre Curie had always in mind his urgent
need for a good laboratory. When, because of
his great reputation, his chiefs felt obliged to try
to induce him, in 1903, to accept the decoration
of the Legion cl’Honneur, he declined that dis-

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 133

tinction, remaining true to the opinion already
referred to in a preceding chapter. And the
letter he wrote on this occasion was inspired by
the same feeling as that in the one previously
quoted, when he wrote to his director to refuse
the palmes academiques. I quote an extract:

“I pray you to thank the Minister, and to inform
him that I do not in the least feel the need of a deco¬
ration, but that I do feel the greatest need for a lab¬
oratory.”

After he was named professor at the Sor-
bonne, Pierre Curie had to prepare a new course.
The position had been given a very personal
character and a very general scope. He was left
great freedom in the choice of the matter he
would present. Taking advantage of this free¬
dom he returned to a subject that was dear to
him, and devoted part of his lectures to the laws
of symmetry, the study of fields of vectors and
tensors, and to the application of these ideas to
the physics of crystals. He intended to carry
these lessons further, and to work out a course
that would completely cover the physics of crys¬
tallized matter which would have been especially
useful because this subject was so little known
in France. His other lessons dealt with radio¬
activity, set forth the discoveries made in this

134 PIERRE CURIE

new domain, and the revolution they had caused
in science.

Even though he was very much absorbed in
the preparation of his course, and often ill, my
husband continued, nevertheless, to work in the
laboratory, which was becoming better and
better organized. He had a little more space
now, and could receive a few students. In col¬
laboration with A. Laborde, he carried on in¬
vestigations in mineral waters and gases dis¬
charged from springs. This was the last work
he published.

His intellectual faculties were at this time at
their height. One could but admire the surety
and rigor of his reasoning on the theories of
physics, his clear comprehension of fundamental
principles, and a certain profound sense of
phenomena which he had by instinct, but which
he perfected during the course of a life entirely
consecrated to research and reflection. His skill
in experiment, remarkable from the beginning,
was increased by practice. He experienced the
pleasure of an artist when he succeeded with a
delicate installation. He enjoyed, too, devising
and constructing new apparatus, and I used
jokingly to tell him that he would not be happy
unless he made at least an attempt of this kind
once every six months. His natural curiosity

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 135

and vivid imagination pushed him to undertak¬
ings in very varied directions; he could change
the object of his research with surprising ease.

He was scrupulously careful of scientific
probity and of complete accuracy in his publica¬
tions. These are very perfect in form, and none
the less so in those parts where he applies the
critical spirit to himself, expressing his determi¬
nation never to affirm anything that does not
seem entirely clear. He expresses his thought
on this point in the following words:

“In the study of unknown phenomena, one can
make very general hypotheses and then advance step
by step with the help of experience. This method
of progress is sure but necessarily slow. One can, on
the contrary, make daring hypotheses in which he
specifies the mechanism of phenomena. Such a
method of procedure has the advantage of suggesting
certain experiments, and, above all, of facilitating rea¬
soning by rendering it less abstract through the em¬
ployment of an image. But on the other hand, one
cannot hope thus to conceive a complex theory in ac¬
cord with experiment. The precise hypothesis almost
certainly includes a portion of error along with a por¬
tion of truth. And this last portion, if it exists, forms
only a part of a more general proposition to which it
will be necessary in the end to return.”

Moreover, even though he never hesitated to
make hypotheses, he never permitted their pre-

136

PIERRE CURIE

mature publication. He could never accustom
himself to a system of work which involved hasty
publications, and was always happier in a
domain in which but a few investigators were
quietly working. The considerable vogue of
radioactivity made him wish to abandon this field
of research for a time, and to return to his inter¬
rupted studies of the physics of crystals. He
dreamed also of making an examination of di¬
verse theoretical questions.

He gave much thought to his teaching, which
constantly improved, and which suggested to
him ideas on the general orientation of studies
and on methods of teaching, which he believed
should be based on contact with experience and
nature. He hoped to see his views adopted by
the Association of Professors as soon as it was
formed, and to obtain the declaration “that the
teaching of the sciences must be the dominant
teaching of both the boys’ and girls’ lycees.”

“But,” he said, “such a notion would have
little chance of success.”

But this last period of his life, so fecund,
was, alas, soon to end. His admirable scientific
career was to be suddenly broken at the very
moment when he could hope that the years of
work to come would be less hard than those
which had preceded.

THE BURDEN OF CELEBRITY 137

In 1906, quite ill and tired, he went with me
and the children to spend Easter in the Chev-
reuse Valley. Those were two sweet days under
a mild sun, and Pierre Curie felt the weight of
weariness lighten in a healing repose near to
those who were dear to him. He amused him¬
self in the meadows with his little girls,
and talked with me of their present and their
future.

He returned to Paris for a reunion and dinner
of the Physics Society. There he sat beside
Henri Poincare and had a long conversation with
him on methods of teaching. As we were return¬
ing on foot to our house, he continued to develop
his ideas on the culture that he dreamed of,
happy in the consciousness that I shared his
views.

The following day, the 19th of April, 1906,
he attended a reunion of the Association of
Professors of the Faculties of the Sciences,
where he talked with them very cordially about
the aims which the Association might adopt. As
he went out from this reunion and was crossing
the rue Dauphine, he was struck by a truck com¬
ing from the Pont Neuf, and fell under its
wheels. A concussion of the brain brought in¬
stantaneous death.

So perished the hope founded on the won-

138

PIERRE CURIE

derful being who thus ceased to be. In the study
room to which he was never to return, the water
buttercups he had brought from the country
were still fresh.

CHAPTER VII

THE NATION’S SORROW. THE LABORATORIES:

“sacred places”

I shall not attempt to describe the grief of the
family left by Pierre Curie. By what I have
earlier said in this narrative one can understand
what he meant to his father, his brother, and his
wife. He was, too, a devoted father, tender in
his love for his children, and happy to occupy
himself with them. But our daughters were still
too young at this time to realize the calamity
that had befallen us. Their grandfather and I,
united in our common suffering, did what we
could to see that their childhood should not be
too much darkened by the disaster.

The news of the catastrophe caused veritable
consternation in the scientific world of France,
as well as in that of other countries. The heads
of the university and the professors expressed
their emotion in letters full of sympathy, and a
great number of foreign scientists also sent
letters and telegrams. No less deep was the im-

139

140

PIERRE CURIE

pression produced on the public with whom
Pierre Curie, despite his reserve, enjoyed great
renown. This feeling was expressed in numer¬
ous private letters coming not only from those
whom we knew, but also from persons entirely
unknown to us. At the same time the press
printed articles of regret, bearing the stamp of
deep sincerity. The French government sent its
condolences, and a few rulers of foreign countries
sent their personal expressions of sympathy.
One of the purest glories of France had been
extinguished, and each understood that this was
a nation’s sorrow.1

1 From the great number of letters and telegrams of con¬
dolence, I quote, as examples, these lines written by three
great scientists, today no longer living.

From M. Berthelot:

“Madame:

“I do not wish to wait longer without sending you
the sympathetic expression of my profound grief and
of that of French and foreign scientists on the occasion
of the common loss with you that we have all experi¬
enced. We were struck as by lightning by the tragic
news! So many services already rendered science and
humanity, so many services that we awaited from that
genial inventor: all this vanished in an instant, or
become already but a memory!”

From G. Lippmann:

“Madame :

It is while traveling, and very late, that I receive the
terrible news. I feel as if I had lost a brother; I did
not know by Vhat close ties I was attached to your

THE NATION’S SORROW

141

Faithful to the memory of him who had left
us, we wished a simple interment in the family
vault in the little cemetery at Sceaux. There
was neither official ceremony nor address, and
only his friends accompanied him to his last
home. As he thought of him who was no more,
his brother Jacques said to me: “He had all the
gifts; there were not two like him.”

In order to assure the continuance of his
work, the Faculty of Sciences of Paris paid me
the very great honor of asking me to take the
place that he had occupied. I accepted this
heavy heritage, in the hope that I might build
up some day, in his memory, a laboratory worthy
of him, which he had never had, but where
others would be able to work to develop his idea.
This hope is now partly realized, thanks to the
common initiative of the University and the
Pasteur Institute, which have aimed at the
creation of a Radium Institute, composed of two
laboratories, the Curie and the Pasteur, destined
for the physicochemical and the biological study

husband. I know today. I suffer also for you, Madame.
Believe in my sincere and respectful devotion.”

From Lord Kelvin:

“Grievously distressed by terrible news of Curie’s
death. When will be funeral. We arrive Hotel Mirabeau
tomorrow morning. Kelvin, Villa St. Martin, Cannes.”

142

PIERRE CURIE

of radium rays. In touching homage to him
who had disappeared the new street leading to
the Institute was named rue Pierre Curie.

This Institute is, however, insufficient in view
of the considerable development of radioactivity
and of its therapeutic applications. The best
authorized persons now recognize that France
must possess a Radium Institute comparable to
those of England and America for the Curie-
therapie which has become an efficacious means
in the battle against cancer. It is to be hoped
that with generous and far-seeing aid, we shall
have, in a few years, a Radium Institute com¬
plete and enlarged, worthy of our country.

To honor the memory of Pierre Curie, the
French Society of Physics decided to issue a
complete publication of his works. This publi¬
cation, arranged by P. Langevin and C. Chene-
veau, comprises but a single volume of about
600 pages, which appeared in 1908, and for
which I wrote a preface. This unique volume,
which includes a work as important as it is
varied, is a faithful reflection of the mentality
of the author. One finds in it a great richness of
ideas and of experimental facts leading to clear
and well-established results, but the exposition
is limited to the strictly necessary, and is irre¬
proachable, dne might even say classical, in

THE NATION’S SORROW

143

form. It is to be regretted that Pierre Curie did
not use his gifts as scientist and author in writ¬
ing extended memoirs or books. It was not the
desire that was lacking ; he had several cherished
projects of this nature. But he could never put
them into execution because of the difficulties
with which he had to struggle during all his
working life.

now, let us glance at this narrative as a
whole, in which I have attempted to evoke the
image of a man who, 'inflexibly devoted to the
service of his ideal, honored humanity by an ex¬
istence lived in silence, in the simple grandeur
of his genius and his character. He had the
faith of those who open new ways. He knew
that he had a high mission to fulfil and the
mystic dream of his youth pushed him invincibly
beyond the usual path of life into a way which
he called anti-natural because it signified the
renunciation of the pleasures of life. Neverthe¬
less, he resolutely subordinated his thoughts
and desires to this dream, adapting himself to
it and identifying himself with it more and more
competely. Believing only in the pacific might
of science and of reason, he lived for the search
of truth. Without prejudice or parti pris, he
carried the same loyalty into his study of things

144

PIERRE CURIE

that he used in his understanding of other men
and of himself. 'Detached from every common
passion, seeking neither supremacy nor honors,
he had no enemies, even though the effort he
had achieved in the control of himself had made
of him one of those elect whom we find in ad¬
vance of their time in all the epochs of civiliza¬
tion. Like them he was able to exercise a pro¬
found influence merely by the radiation of his
inner strength.

It is useful to learn how much sacrifice such
a life represents. The life of a great scientist
in his laboratory is not, as many may think, a
peaceful idyll. More often it is a bitter battle
with things, with one’s surroundings, and above
all with oneself. A great discovery does not
leap completely achieved from the brain of the
scientist, as Minerva sprang, alLp-annplWL from
the head of Jupiter; it is the fruit of accumulated
preliminary work. Between the days of fecund
productivity are inserted days of uncertainty
when nothing seems to succeed, and when even
matter itself seems hostile; and it is then that
one must hold out against discouragement.
Thus without ever forsaking his inexhaustible
patience, Pierre Curie used s6metime§\to sav to
me: “It is nevertheless hard, this life that we
have chosen.”

THE NATION’S SORROW

145

For the admirable gift of himself, and for the
magnificent service he renders humanity, what
reward does our society offer the scientist?]
Have these servants of an idea the necessary
means of work? Have they an assured exist¬
ence, sheltered from care? The example of
Pierre Curie, and of others, shows that they have
none of these things; and that more often, be¬
fore they can secure possible working conditions,
they have to exhaust their youth and their
powers in daily anxieties. Our society, in which
reigns an eager desire for riches and luxury, does
not understand the value of science. It does
not realize that science is a most precious part
of its moral patrimony. Nor does it take suffi¬
cient cognizance of the fact that science is at the
base of all the progress that lightens the burden
of life and lessens its suffering. Neither public
powers nor private generosity actually accord to
science and to scientists the support and the sub¬
sidies indispensable to fully effective work, f

I invoke, in closing, the admirable pleading
of Pasteur :

“If the conquests useful for humanity touch your
heart, if you are overwhelmed before the astonishing
results of electric telegraphy, of the daguerrotype, of
anesthesia, and of other wonderful discoveries, if you
are jealous of the part your country may claim in the

146

PIERRE CURIE

spreading of these marvelous things, take an interest,
I beg of you, in those sacred places to which we give
the expressive name of laboratories. Demand that
they be multiplied and ornamented, for these are the
temples of the future, of wealth, and of well-being.
It is in them that humanity grows, fortifies itself, and
becomes better. There it may learn to read in the
works of nature the story of progress and of universal
harmony, even while its own creations are too often
those of barbarism, fanaticism, and destruction.”

May this truth be widely spread, and deeply
penetrate public opinion, that the future may be
less hard for the pioneers who must open up new
domains for the general good of humanity.

Extracts from Published Appreciations

I have chosen certain extracts from various
published appreciations of Pierre Curie in order
to complete my account by a few moving testi¬
monies from eminent men of science.

Henri Poincare:

“Curie was one of those on whom Science and
France believed they had the right to count. His age
permitted far-reaching hopes; what he had already
given seemed a promise, and we knew that, living, he
would not hav^ failed. On the night preceding his
death (pardon this personal memory) I sat next to

THE NATION’S SORROW

147

him and he talked with me of his plans and his ideas.
I admired the fecundity and the depth of his thought,
the new aspect which physical phenomena took on
when looked at through that original and lucid mind.
I felt that I better understood the grandeur of human
intelligence — and the following day, in an instant, all
was annihilated. A stupid accident brutally reminded
us how little place thought holds in the face of the
thousand blind forces that hurl themselves across the
world without knowing whither they go, crushing all
in their passage.

“His friends, his colleagues understood at once
the import of the loss they suffered, but the grief ex¬
tended far beyond them. In foreign countries the
most illustrious scientists joined in trying to show the
esteem in which they held our compatriot, while in
our own land there was no Frenchman, however igno¬
rant, who did not feel more or less vaguely what a
force his nation and humanity had lost.

“Curie brought to his study of physical phenomena
I do not know what very fine sense which made him
divine unsuspected analogies, and made it possible
for him to orient himself in a labyrinth of complex
appearances where others would have gone astray.
. . . True physicists, like Curie, neither look within
themselves, nor on the surface of things, but they
know how to look through things.

“All those who knew him knew their pleasure and
surety in his acquaintance, and the delicate charm
that was exhaled, one might say, by his gentle
modesty, by his naive directness, by the fineness of
his spirit. Always ready to efface himself before his

148

PIERRE CURIE

family, before his friends, and even before his rivals,
he was what one calls a ‘poor candidate’; but in our
democracy candidates are the least thing we lack.

“Who would have thought that so much gentleness
concealed an intransigeant soul? He did not compro¬
mise with those general principles on which he was
nourished, nor with the particular moral ideal he had
been taught to love, that ideal of absolute sincerity,
too high, perhaps, for the world in which we live.
He did not know the thousand little accommodations
with which our weakness contents itself. Moreover,
he never separated the worship of this ideal from what
he rendered to science, and he gave us a shining ex¬
ample of the high conception of duty that may spring
from a simple and pure love of truth. It matters little
in what God he believed; it is not the God, but faith,
that performs miracles.”

Institut de France : Written about P. Curie by
M. D. Gernez.

“All for work, all for science: this sums up the life
of Pierre Curie, a life so rich in brilliant discoveries
and in the outlook of genius that it won him prac¬
tically universal admiration. In the full maturity of
his investigations whose progress he so eagerly pur¬
sued his work was ended, to the consternation of us
all, by a terrible catastrophe on the 19th of April,
1906. ...

“All these honors did not dazzle him; he was and
he will remain a remarkable figure among those who
make the scientific history of our epoch. His contem-

THE NATION’S SORROW

149

poraries found in him a precious example of a devo¬
tion to science at once unyielding and disinterested.
There have been few lives more pure and more justly
famous.”

Jean Perrin:

“Pierre Curie, whom all called a master, and
whom we had the joy to call, too, our friend, died
suddenly in the fullness of his powers. . . . We will
try to show through him, as an example, what part a
powerful genius can return to sincerity, to liberty, to
the strong and calm audacity of thought which
nothing can enchain and nothing can astonish. We ac¬
knowledge also all the greatness of the soul where
these fine qualities of intelligence and character were
united in a most noble unselfishness and most ex¬
quisite goodness.

“Those who have known Pierre Curie, know that,
near him one felt awaken the need to do and to under¬
stand. We will try to honor his memory by spreading
abroad this impression, and we will ask his pale and
beautiful face for the secret of that radiation which
made all those who approached him better men.”

C. Cheneveau:

“. . . In order to realize our irreparable loss we
must remember Curie’s attachment to his students.
. . . Some of us offered him, with reason, a veritable
worship. ... For myself, he was, next to my own

150

PIERRE CURIE

family, one of those I loved most. How well he knew
how to surround his simple collaborator with a great
and tender affection. His immense kindness extended
even to his most humble helpers, who adored him. I
have never seen more sincere and more heart-breaking
tears than those shed by the laboratory boys on the
news of his sudden death.”

Paul Langevin :

“. . . The hours when one could meet him and in
which one loved to talk about his science and in which
one thought with him, return each day to recall his
memory, to bring back his kindly and thoughtful face,
his luminous eyes and his beautiful, expressive head
modeled by twenty-five years passed in the labora¬
tory, and by a life of unremittent work and complete
simplicity.

“. . . It is in his laboratory that my memories,
still so recent, most readily bring him back to me, as
he would appear to those near to whom he had grown
older, scarcely changed by the eighteen years that
have passed since. Timid and often awkward, I began
under him my laboratory education. . . .

“Surrounded by apparatus for the greater part con¬
ceived or modified by himself, he manipulated it
with extreme dexterity, with the familiar gestures of
the long white hands of the physicist. . . .

“He was twenty-nine years old when I entered as a
student. The mastery which ten years, passed entirely
in the laboratory, had given him, imposed itself even
on us, despite bur ignorance, by the surety of his

THE NATION’S SORROW

151

movements and explanations, and the ease, shaded by
timidity, of his manner. We returned always with joy
to the laboratory, where it was good to work near him
because we felt him working near to us in that large,
light room filled with apparatus whose forms were
still a little mysterious to us. We did not fear to enter
it often to consult him, and he sometimes admitted us,
too, to perform some particularly delicate manipula¬
tion. Probably my finest memories of my school years
are those of moments passed there standing before
the blackboard where he took pleasure in talking with
us, in awakening in us fruitful ideas, and in discus¬
sions of research which formed our taste for the things
of science. His live and contagious curiosity, the full¬
ness and surety of his information made him an ad¬
mirable awakener of spirits.”

I have wished above all, in gathering together
here these few memories, in a bouquet rever¬
ently placed upon his tomb, to help, if I can, to
fix the image of a man truly great in chaiacter
and in thought, of a wonderful representative of
the genius of our race. Entirely unfranchised
from ancient servitudes, and passionately loving
reason and clarity, he was an example — as is a
prophet inspired by truths of the future — of
what may be realized in moral beauty and good¬
ness by a free and upright spirit, of constant
courage, and of a mental honesty which made
him repulse what he did not understand, and
place his life in accord with this dream.

Autobiographical Notes
Marie Curie

CHAPTER I

I have been asked by my American friends to
write the story of my life. At first, the idea
seemed alien to me, but I yielded to persuasion.
However, I could not conceive my biography as
a complete expression of personal feelings or a
detailed description of all incidents I would re¬
member. Many of our feelings change with the
years, and, when faded away, may seem alto¬
gether strange; incidents lose their momentary
interest and may be remembered as if they have
occurred to some other person. But there may
be in a life some general direction, some con¬
tinuous thread, due to a few dominant ideas and
a few strong feelings, that explain the life and
are characteristic of a human personality. Of
my life, which has not been easy on the whole,
I have described the general course and the
essential features, and I trust that my story gives
an understanding of the state of mind in which
I have lived and worked.

My family is of Polish origin, and my name
is Marie Sklodowska. My father and my mother

155

156

PIERRE CURIE

both came from among the small Polish landed
proprietors. In my country this class is com¬
posed of a large number of families, owners of
small and medium-sized estates, frequently
interrelated. It has been, until recently, chiefly
from this group that Poland has drawn her in¬
tellectual recruits.

While my paternal grandfather had divided
his time between agriculture and directing a
provincial college, my father, more strongly
drawn to study, followed the course of the Uni¬
versity of Petrograd, and later definitely estab¬
lished himself at Warsaw as Professor of
Physics and Mathematics in one of the lyceums
of that city. He married a young woman whose
mode of life was congenial to his ; for, although
very young, she had, what was, for that time, a
very serious education, and was the director of
one of the best Warsaw schools for young girls.

My father and mother worshiped their profes¬
sion in the highest degree and have left, all over
their country, a lasting remembrance with their
pupils. I cannot, even to-day, go into Polish so¬
ciety without meeting persons who have tender
memories of my parents.

Although my parents adopted a university
career, they continued to keep in close touch
with their numerous family in the country. It

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

157

was with their relatives that I frequently spent
my vacation, living in all freedom and finding
opportunities to know the field life by which I
was deeply attracted. To these conditions, so
different from the usual villegiature, I believe,
I owe my love for the country and nature.

Born at Warsaw, on the 7th of November,
1867, I was the last of five children, but my
oldest sister died at the early age of fourteen, and
we were left, three sisters and a brother. Cruelly
struck by the loss of her daughter and worn away
by a grave illness, my mother died at forty-two,
leaving her husband in the deepest sorrow with
his children. I was then only nine years old, and
my eldest brother was hardly thirteen.

This catastrophe was the first great sorrow
of my life and threw me into a profound depres¬
sion. My mother had an exceptional personal¬
ity. With all her intellectuality she had a big
heart and a very high sense of duty. And,
though possessing infinite indulgence and good
nature, she still held in the family a remarkable
moral authority. She had an ardent piety (my
parents were both Catholics), but she was never
intolerant ; differences in religious belief did not
trouble her; she was equally kind to any one
not sharing her opinions. Her influence over me
was extraordinary, for in me the natural love of

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PIERRE CURIE

the little girl for her mother was united with a
passionate admiration.

Very much affected by the death of my mother,
my father devoted himself entirely to his work
and to the care of our education. His profes¬
sional obligations were heavy and left him little
leisure time. For many years we all felt weigh¬
ing on us the loss of the one who had been the
soul of the house.

We all started our studies very young. I was
only six years old, and, because I was the young¬
est and smallest in the class, was frequently
brought forward to recite when there were vis¬
itors. This was a great trial to me, because of
my timidity; I wanted always to run away and
hide. My father, an excellent educator, was
interested in our work and knew how to direct
it, but the conditions of our education were diffi¬
cult. We began our studies in private schools
and finished them in those of the government.

Warsaw was then under Russian domination,
and one of the worst aspects of this control was
the oppression exerted on the school and the
child. The private schools directed by Poles
were closely watched by the police and over¬
burdened with the necessity of teaching the Rus¬
sian language even to children so young that they
could scarcely speak their native Polish. Never-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

159

theless, since the teachers were nearly all of
Polish nationality, they endeavored in every pos¬
sible way to mitigate the difficulties resulting
from the national persecution. These schools,
however, could not legally give diplomas, which
were obtainable only in those of the government.

The latter, entirely Russian, were directly op¬
posed to the Polish national spirit. All instruc¬
tion was given in Russian, by Russian pro¬
fessors, who, being hostile to the Polish nation,
treated their pupils as enemies. Men of moral
and intellectual distinction could scarcely agree
to teach in schools where an alien attitude was
forced upon them. So what the pupils were
taught was of questionable value, and the moral
atmosphere was altogether unbearable. Con¬
stantly held in suspicion and spied upon, the
children knew that a single conversation in
Polish, or an imprudent word, might seriously
harm, not only themselves, but also their fam¬
ilies. Amidst these hostilities, they lost all the
joy of life, and precocious feelings of distrust and
indignation weighed upon their childhood. On
the other side, this abnormal situation resulted
in exciting the patriotic feeling of Polish youths
to the highest degree.

Yet of this period of my. early youth, dark¬
ened though it was by mourning and the sorrow

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PIERRE CURIE

of oppression, I still keep more than one pleas¬
ant remembrance. In our quiet but occupied life,
reunions of relatives and friends of our family
brought some joy. My father was very interested
in literature and well acquainted with Polish and
foreign poetry; he even composed poetry him¬
self and was able to translate it from foreign
languages into Polish in a very successful way.
His little poems on family events were our de¬
light. On Saturday evenings he used to recite
or read to us the masterpieces of Polish prose
and poetry. These evenings were for us a great
pleasure and a source of renewed patriotic
feelings.

Since my childhood I have had a strong taste
for poetry, and I willingly learned by heart long
passages from our great poets, the favorite ones
being Mickiewecz, Krasinski and Slowacki. This
taste was even more developed when I became
acquainted with foreign literatures; my early
studies included the knowledge of French, Ger¬
man, and Russian, and I soon became familiar
with the fine works written in these languages.
Later I felt the need of knowing English and
succeeded in acquiring the knowledge of that
language and its literature.

My musical studies have been very scarce.
My mother was a musician and had a beautiful

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

161

voice. She wanted us to have musical train¬
ing. After her death, having no more encourage¬
ment from her, I soon abandoned this effort,
which I often regretted afterwards.

I learned easily mathematics and physics, as
far as these sciences were taken in consideration
in the school. I found in this ready help from
my father, who loved science and had to teach
it himself. He enjoyed any explanation he could
give us about Nature and her ways. Unhappily,
he had no laboratory and could not perform
experiments.

The periods of vacations were particularly
comforting, when, escaping the strict watch of
the police in the city, we took refuge with rela¬
tives or friends in the country. There we found
the free life of the old-fashioned family estate;
races in the woods and joyous participation in
work in the far-stretching, level grain-fields. At
other times we passed the border of our Russian-
ruled division (Congress Poland) and went
southwards into the mountain country of Galicia,
where the Austrian political control was less op¬
pressive than that which we suffered. There we
could speak Polish in all freedom and sing
patriotic songs without going to prison.

My first impression of the mountains was very
vivid, because I had been brought up in the

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plains. So I enjoyed immensely our life in the
Carpathian villages, the view of the pikes, the
excursions to the valleys and to the high moun¬
tain lakes with picturesque names such as : “The
Eye of the Sea.” However, I never lost my at¬
tachment to the open horizon and the gentle
views of a plain hill country.

Later I had the opportunity to spend a vaca¬
tion with my father far more south in Podolia,
and to have the first view of the sea at Odessa,
and afterwards at the Baltic shore. This was a
thrilling experience. But it was in France that
I become acquainted with the big waves of the
ocean and the ever-changing tide. All my life
through, the new sights of Nature made me re¬
joice like a child.

Thus passed the period of our school life. We
all had much facility for intellectual work. My
brother, Doctor Sklodowski, having finished his
medical studies, became later the chief physician
in one of the principal Warsaw hospitals. My
sisters and I intended to take up teaching as our
parents had done. However, my elder sister,
when grown up, changed her mind and decided
to study medicine. She took the degree of doc¬
tor at the Paris University, married Doctor
Dluski, a Polish physician, and together they
established an important sanatorium in a won-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

163

derfully beautiful Carpathian mountain place of
Austrian Poland. My second sister, married in
Warsaw, Mrs. Szalay, was for many years a
teacher in the schools, where she rendered great
service. Later she was appointed in one of the
lyceums of free Poland.

I was but fifteen when I finished my high-
school studies, always having held first rank in
my class. The fatigue of growth and study com¬
pelled me to take almost a year’s rest in the
country. I then returned to my father in War¬
saw, hoping to teach in the free schools. But
family circumstances obliged me to change my
decision. My father, now aged and tired, needed
rest; his fortune was very modest. So I resolved
to accept a position as governess for several
children. Thus, when scarcely seventeen, I left
my father’s house to begin an independent life.

That going away remains one of the most
vivid memories of my youth. My heart was
heavy as I climbed into the railway car. It was
to carry me for several hours, away from those
I loved. And after the railway journey I must
drive for five hours longer. What experience was
awaiting me? So I questioned as I sat close to
the car window looking out across the wide
plains.

The father of the family to which I went was

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PIERRE CURIE

an agriculturist. His oldest daughter was about
my age, and although working with me, was my
companion rather than my pupil. There were
two younger children, a boy and a girl. My rela¬
tions with my pupils were friendly; after our
lessons we went together for daily walks. Loving
the country, I did not feel lonesome, and
although this particular country was not espe¬
cially picturesque, I was satisfied with it in all
seasons. I took the greatest interest in the agri¬
cultural development of the estate where the
methods were considered as models for the
region. I knew the progressive details of the
work, the distribution of crops in the fields; I
eagerly followed the growth of the plants, and in
the stables of the farm I knew the horses.

In winter the vast plains, covered with snow,
were not lacking in charm, and we went for long
sleigh rides. Sometimes we could hardly see the
road. “Look out for the ditch!” I would call
to the driver. “You are going straight into it,”
and “Never fear!” he would answer, as over we
went! But these tumbles only added to the
gayety of our excursions.

I remember the marvelous snow house we
made one winter when the snow was very high
in the fields ; we could sit in it and look out across
the rose-tinted snow plains. We also used to

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

165

skate on the ice of the river and to watch the
weather anxiously, to make sure that the ice was
not going to give way, depriving us of our
pleasure.

Since my duties with my pupils did not take
up all my time, I organized a small class for the
children of the village who could not be educated
under the Russian government. In this the old¬
est daughter of the house aided me. We taught
the little children and the girls who wished to
come how to read and write, and we put in cir¬
culation Polish books which were appreciated,
too, by the parents. Even this innocent work
presented danger, as all initiative of this kind
was forbidden by the government and might
bring imprisonment or deportation to Siberia.

My evenings I generally devoted to study. I
had heard that a few women had succeeded in
following certain courses in Petrograd or in for¬
eign countries, and I was determined to prepare
myself by preliminary work to follow their
example.

I had not yet decided what path I would
choose. I was as much interested in literature
and sociology as in science. However, during
these years of isolated work, trying little by little
to find my real preferences, I finally turned
towards mathematics and physics, and resolutely

166

PIERRE CURIE

undertook a serious preparation for future work.
This work I proposed doing in Paris, and I hoped
to save enough money to be able to live and
work in that city for some time.

My solitary study was beset with difficulties.
The scientific education I had received at the
lyceum was very incomplete; it was well under
the bachelorship program of a French lyceum;
I tried to add to it in my own way, with the
help of books picked up at random. This
method could not be greatly productive, yet it
was not without results. I acquired the habit of
independent work, and learned a few things
which were to be of use later on.

I had to modify my plans for the future when
my eldest sister decided to go to Paris to study
medicine. We had promised each other mutual
aid, but our means did not permit of our leaving
together. So I kept my position for three and a
half years, and, having finished my work with
my pupils, I returned to Warsaw, where a posi¬
tion, similar to the one I had left, was await¬
ing me.

I kept this new place for only a year and then
went back to my father, who had retired some
time before and was living alone. Together we
passed an excellent year, he occupying himself
with some literary work, while I increased our

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

167

funds by giving private lessons. Meantime I
continued my efforts to educate myself. This
was no easy task under the Russian government
of Warsaw; yet I found more opportunities than
in the country. To my great joy, I was able, for
the first time in my life, to find access to a labora¬
tory: a small municipal physical laboratory di¬
rected by one of my cousins. I found little time
to work there, except in the evenings and on
Sundays, and was generally left to myself. I
tried out various experiments described in trea¬
tises on physics and chemistry, and the results
were sometimes unexpected. At times I would
be encouraged by a little unhoped-for success,
at others I would be in the deepest despair be¬
cause of accidents and failures resulting from my
inexperience. But on the whole, though I was
taught that the way of progress is neither swift
nor easy, this first trial confirmed in me the taste
for experimental research in the fields of physics
and chemistry.

Other means of instruction came to me
through my being one of an enthusiastic group
of young men and women of Warsaw, who united
in a common desire to study, and whose activities
were at the same time social and patriotic. It
was one of those groups of Polish youths who
believed that the hope of their country lay in a

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PIERRE CURIE

great effort to develop the intellectual and moral
strength of the nation, and that such an effort
would lead to a better national situation. The
nearest purpose was to work at one’s own instruc¬
tion and to provide means of instruction for work¬
men and peasants. In accordance with this
program we agreed among ourselves to give
evening courses, each one teaching what he knew
best. There is no need to say that this was a
secret organization, which made everything ex¬
tremely difficult. There were in our group very
devoted young people who, as I still believe to¬
day, could do truly useful work.

I have a bright remembrance of the sympa¬
thetic intellectual and social companionship
which I enjoyed at that time. Truly the means
of action were poor and the results obtained
could not be considerable; yet I still believe
that the ideas which inspired us then are the
only way to real social progress. You cannot
hope to build a better world without improving
the individuals. To that end each of us must
work for his own improvement, and at the same
time share a general responsibility for all human¬
ity, our particular duty being to aid those to
whom we think we can be most useful.

All the experiences of this period intensified
my longing for further study. And, in his affec-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

169

tion for me, my father, in spite of limited re¬
sources, helped me to hasten the execution of
my early project. My sister had just married at
Paris, and it was decided that I should go there
to live with her. My father and I hoped that,
once my studies were finished, we would again
live happily together. Fate was to decide other¬
wise, since my marriage was to hold me in
France. My father, who in his own youth had
wished to do scientific work, was consoled in our
separation by the progressive success of my
work. I keep a tender memory of his kindness
and disinterestedness. He lived with the family
of my married brother, and, like an excellent
grandfather, brought up the children. We had
the sorrow of losing him in 1902, when he had
just passed seventy.

So it was in November, 1891, at the age of
twenty-four, that I was able to realize the dream
that had been always present in my mind for
several years.

When I arrived in Paris I was affectionately
welcomed by my sister and brother-in-law, but
I stayed with them only for a few months, for
they lived in one of the outside quarters of
Paris where my brother-in-law was beginning a
medical practice, and I needed to get nearer to
the schools. I was finally installed, like many

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other students of my country, in a modest little
room for which I gathered some furniture. I
kept to this way of living during the four years
of my student life.

It would be impossible to tell of all the good
these years brought to me. Undistracted by any
outside occupation, I was entirely absorbed in
the joy of learning and understanding. Yet, all
the while, my living conditions were far from
easy, my own funds being small and my family
not having the means to aid me as they would
have liked to do. However, my situation was not
exceptional; it was the familiar experience of
many of the Polish students whom I knew. The
room I lived in was in a garret, very cold in win¬
ter, for it was insufficiently heated by a small
stove which often lacked coal. During a particu¬
larly rigorous winter, it was not unusual for the
water to freeze in the basin in the night; to be
able to sleep I was obliged to pile all my clothes
on the bedcovers. In the same room I prepared
my meals with the aid of an alcohol lamp and a
few kitchen utensils. These meals were often
reduced to bread with a cup of chocolate, eggs
or fruit. I had no help in housekeeping and I
myself carried the little coal I used up the six
flights.

This life, gainful from certain points of view,

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

171

had, for all that, a real charm for me. It gave
me a very precious sense of liberty and indepen¬
dence. Unknown in Paris, I was lost in the
great city, but the feeling of living there alone,
taking care of myself without any aid, did not
at all depress me. If sometimes I felt lonesome,
my usual state of mind was one of calm and great
moral satisfaction.

All my mind was centered on my studies,
which, especially at the beginning, were diffi¬
cult. In fact, I was insufficiently prepared to
follow the physical science course at the Sor-
bonne, for, despite all my efforts, I had not suc¬
ceeded in acquiring in Poland a preparation as
complete as that of the French students follow¬
ing the same course. So I was obliged to supply
this deficiency, especially in mathematics. I di¬
vided my time between courses, experimental
work, and study in the library. In the evening I
worked in my room, sometimes very late into
the night. All that I saw and learned that was
new delighted me. It was like a new world
opened to me, the world of science, which I was
at last permitted to know in all liberty.

I have pleasant memories of my relations with
my student companions. Reserved and shy at
the beginning, it was not long before I noticed
that the students, nearly all of whom worked

172

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seriously, were disposed to be friendly. Our con¬
versations about our studies deepened our inter¬
est in the problems we discussed.

Among the Polish students I did not have any
companions in my studies. Nevertheless, my re¬
lations with their small colony had a certain
intimacy. From time to time we would gather
in one another’s bare rooms, where we could
talk over national questions and feel less iso¬
lated. We would also go for walks together, or
attend public reunions, for we were all interested
in politics. By the end of the first year, how¬
ever, I was forced to give up these relationships,
for I found that all my energy had to be concen¬
trated on my studies, in order to achieve them
as soon as possible. I was even obliged to devote
most of my vacation time to mathematics.

My persistent efforts were not in vain. I was
able to make up for the deficiency of my train¬
ing and to pass examinations at the same time
with the other students. I even had the satisfac¬
tion of graduating in first rank as “licenciee es
sciences physiques'” in 1893, and in second rank
as “licenciee es sciences mathematiques ” in
1894.

My brother-in-law, recalling later these years
of work uqder the conditions I have just de¬
scribed, jokingly referred to them as “the heroic

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

173

period of my sister-in-law’s life.” For myself, I
shall always consider one of the best memories
of my life that period of solitary years exclu¬
sively devoted to the studies, finally within my
reach, for which I had waited so long.

It was in 1894 that I first met Pierre Curie.
One of my compatriots, a professor at the Uni¬
versity of Fribourg, having called upon me, in¬
vited me to his home, with a young physicist of
Paris, whom he knew and esteemed highly.
Upon entering the room I perceived, standing
framed by the French window opening on the
balcony, a tall young man with auburn hair and
large, limpid eyes. I noticed the grave and
gentle expression of his face, as well as a cer¬
tain abandon in his attitude, suggesting the
dreamer absorbed in his reflections. He showed
me a simple cordiality and seemed to me very
sympathetic. After that first interview he ex¬
pressed the desire to see me again and to continue
our conversation of that evening on scientific
and social subjects in which he and I were both
interested, and on which we seemed to have
similar opinions.

Some time later, he came to me in my student
room and we became good friends. He described
to me his days, filled with work, and his dream
of an existence entirely devoted to science. He

174

PIERRE CURIE

was not long in asking me to share that exist¬
ence, but I could not decide at once; I hesitated
before a decision that meant abandoning my
country and my family.

I went back to Poland for my vacation, with¬
out knowing whether or not I was to return to
Paris. But circumstances permitted me again to
take up my work there in the autumn of that
year. I entered one of the physics laboratories
at the Sorbonne, to begin experimental research
in preparation for my doctor’s thesis.

Again I saw Pierre Curie. Our work drew us
closer and closer, until we were both convinced
that neither of us could find a better life com¬
panion. So our marriage was decided upon and
took place a little later, in July, 1895.

Pierre Curie had just received his doctor’s
degree and had been made professor in the
School of Physics and Chemistry of the City of
Paris. He was thirty-six years old, and already
a physicist known and appreciated in France
and abroad. Solely preoccupied with scientific
investigation, he had paid little attention to his
career, and his material resources were very
modest. He lived at Sceaux, in the suburbs of
Paris, with his old parents, whom he loved
tenderly, and whom he described as “exquisite”
the first timte he spoke to me about them. In

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

175

fact, they were so: the father was an elderly
physician of high intellect and strong character,
and the mother the most excellent of women,
entirely devoted to her husband and her sons.
Pierre’s elder brother, who was then professor
at the University of Montpellier, was always his
best friend. So I had the privilege of entering
into a family worthy of affection and esteem, and
where I found the warmest welcome.

We were married in the simplest way. I wore
no unusual dress on my marriage day, and only
a few friends were present at the ceremony, but
I had the joy of having my father and my second
sister come from Poland.

We did not care for more than a quiet place in
which to live and to work, and were happy to find
a little apartment of three rooms with a beautiful
view of a garden. A few pieces of furniture came
to us from our parents. With a money gift from
a relative we acquired two bicycles to take us out
into the country.

CHAPTER II

W ith my marriage there began for me a new
existence entirely different from the solitary life
that I had known during the preceding years.
My husband and I were so closely united by our
affection and our common work that we passed
nearly all of our time together. I have only a
few letters from him, for we were so little apart.
My husband spent all the time he could spare
from his teaching at his research work in the
laboratory of the school in which he was pro¬
fessor and I obtained authorization to work with
him.

Our living apartment was near the school, so
we lost little time in going and coming. As our
material resources were limited, I was obliged to
attend to most of the housekeeping myself, par¬
ticularly the preparation of meals. It was not
easy to reconcile these household duties with
my scientific work, yet, with good will, I man¬
aged it. The great thing was that we were alone
together in the little home which gave us a peace
and intimac)* that were very enjoyable for us.

176

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

177

At the same time that I was working in the
laboratory, I still had to take a few study courses,
for I had decided to take part in the examination
for a certificate that would allow me to teach
young girls. If I succeeded in this, I would be
entitled to be named professor. In August,
1896, after having devoted several months to
preparation, I came out first in the examination.

Our principal distraction from the close work
of the laboratory consisted in walks or bicycle
rides in the country. My husband greatly en¬
joyed the out-of-doors and took great interest in
the plants and animals of woods and meadows.
Hardly a corner in the vicinity of Paris was
unknown to him. I also loved the country and
these excursions were a great joy for me as well
as to him, relieving our mind from the tension
of the scientific work. We used to bring home
hunches of flowers. Sometimes we forgot all
about the time and got back late at night. We
visited regularly my husband’s parents where
our room was always ready.

In the vacation we went on longer outings
by means of our bicycles. In this way we covered
much ground in Auvergne and in the Cevennes
and visited several regions at the seashore. We
took a great delight in these long all-day excur¬
sions, arriving at night always in a new place. If

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PIERRE CURIE

we stayed in one place too long, my husband
began to wish to get back to the laboratory. It
is also in vacation time that we visited once my
family in the Carpathian mountains. My hus¬
band learned some Polish in view of this journey
to Poland.

But first of all in our life was our scientific
work. My husband gave much care to the prep¬
aration of his courses, and I gave him some
assistance in this, which, at the time, helped me
in my education. However, most of our time
was devoted to our laboratory researches.

My husband did not then have a private
laboratory. He could, to some extent, use the
laboratory of the school for his own work, but
found more freedom by installing himself in
some unused corner of the Physics School build¬
ing. I thus learned from his example that one
could work happily even in very insufficient
quarters. At this time my husband was occupied
with researches on crystals, while I undertook an
investigation of the magnetic properties of steel.
This work was completed and published in
1897.

In that same year the birth of our first daugh¬
ter brought a great change in our life. A few
weeks later my husband’s mother died and his
father came to live with us. We took a small

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

179

house with a garden at the border of Paris and
continued to occupy this house as long as my
husband lived.

It became a serious problem how to take care
of our little Irene and of our home without giv¬
ing up my scientific work. Such a renunciation
would have been very. painful to me, and my
husband would not even think of it; he used to
say that he had got a wife made expressly for
him to share all his preoccupations. Neither of
us would contemplate abandoning what was so
precious to both.

Of course we had to have a servant, but I per¬
sonally saw to all the details of the child’s care.
While I was in the laboratory, she was in the
care of her grandfather, who loved her tenderly
and whose own life was made brighter by her.
So the close union of our family enabled me
to meet my obligations. Things were particu¬
larly difficult only in case of more exceptional
events, such as a child’s illness, when sleepless
nights interrupted the normal course of life.

It can be easily understood that there was
no place in our life for worldly relations. We
saw but a few friends, scientific workers, like
ourselves, with whom we talked in our home or
in our garden, while I did some sewing for my
little girl. We also maintained affectionate re-

180

PIERRE CURIE

lations with my husband’s brother and his family.
But I was separated from all my relatives, as
my sister had left Paris with her husband to
live in Poland.

It was under this mode of quiet living, organ¬
ized according to our desires, that we achieved
the great work of our lives, work begun about
the end of 1897 and lasting for many years.

I had decided on a theme for my doctorate.
My attention had been drawn to the interesting
experiments of Henri Becquerel on the salts of
the rare metal uranium. Becquerel had shown
that by placing some uranium salt on a photo¬
graphic plate, covered with black paper, the plate
would be affected as if light had fallen on it.
The effect is produced by special rays which
are emitted by the uranium salt and are differ¬
ent from ordinary luminous rays as they can pass
through black paper. Becquerel also showed that
these rays can discharge an electroscope. He at
first thought that the uranium rays were pro¬
duced as a result of exposing the uranium salt
to light, but experiment showed that salts kept
for several months in the dark continued the
peculiar rays.

My husband and I were much excited by this
new phenomenon, and I resolved to undertake
the special stiffly of it. It seemed to me that the

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

181

first thing to do was to measure the phenomenon
with precision. In this I decided to use that
property of the rays which enabled them to dis¬
charge an electroscope. However, instead of the
usual electroscope, I used a more perfect appa¬
ratus. One of the models of the apparatus used
by me for these first measurements is now in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons in Phila¬
delphia.

I was not long in obtaining interesting results.
My determinations showed that the emission of
the rays is an atomic property of the uranium,
whatever the physical or chemical conditions of
the salt were. Any substance containing uranium
is as much more active in emitting rays, as it
contains more of this element.

I then thought to find out if there were other
substances possessing this remarkable property
of uranium, and soon found that substances con¬
taining thorium behaved in a similar way, and
that this behavior depended similarly on an
atomic property of thorium. I was now about
to undertake a detailed study of the uranium and
thorium rays when I discovered a new interest¬
ing fact.

I had occasion to examine a certain number
of minerals. A few of them showed activity;
they were those containing either uranium or

182

PIERRE CURIE

thorium. The activity of these minerals would
have had nothing astonishing about it, if it had
been in proportion to the quantities of uranium
or thorium contained in them. But it was not so.
Some of these minerals revealed an activity three
or four times greater than that of uranium. I
verified this surprising fact carefully, and could
not doubt its truth. Speculating about the rea¬
son for this, there seemed to be but one explana¬
tion. There must be, I thought, some unknown
substance, very active, in these minerals. My
husband agreed with me and I urged that we
search at once for this hypothetical substance,
thinking that, with joined efforts, a result would
be quickly obtained. Neither of us could fore¬
see that in beginning this work we were to enter
the path of a new science which we should fol¬
low for all our future.

Of course, I did not expect, even at the be¬
ginning, to find a new element in any large
quantity, as the minerals had already been
analyzed with some precision. At least, I thought
there might be as much as one per cent of the
unknown substance in the1 minerals. But the
more we worked, the clearer we realized that the
new radioactive element could exist only in quite
minute proportion and that, in consequence, its
activity must be very great. Would we have in-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

183

sisted, despite the scarcity of our means of
research, if we had known the true proportion
of what we were searching for, no one can tell;
all that can he said now is that the constant
progress of our work held us absorbed in a pas¬
sionate research, while the difficulties were ever
increasing. As a matter of fact, it was only after
several years of most arduous labor that we
finally succeeded in completely separating the
new substance, now known to everybody as
radium. Here is, briefly, the story of the search
and discovery.

As we did not know, at the beginning, any of
the chemical properties of the unknown sub¬
stance, but only that it emits rays, it was by these
rays that we had to search. We first undertook
the analysis of a pitchblende from St. Joachims-
thal. Analyzing this ore by the usual chemical
methods, we added an examination of its differ¬
ent parts for radioactivity, by the use of our
delicate electrical apparatus. This was the
foundation of a new method of chemical analysis
which, following our work, has been extended,
with the result that a large number of radio¬
active elements have been discovered.

In a few weeks we could be convinced that our
prevision had been right, for the activity was
concentrating in a regular way. And, in a few

184

PIERRE CURIE

months, we could separate from the pitchblende
a substance accompanying the bismuth, much
more active than uranium, and having well de¬
fined chemical properties. In July, 1898, we
announced the existence of this new substance,
to which I gave the name of polonium, in mem¬
ory of my native country.

While engaged in this work on polonium, we
had also discovered that, accompanying the
barium separated from the pitchblende, there
was another new element. After several months
more of close work we were able to separate this
second new substance, which was afterwards
shown to be much more important than
polonium. In December, 1898, we could an¬
nounce the discovery of this new and now famous
element, to which we gave the name of radium.

However, the greatest part of the material
work had yet to be done. We had, to be sure,
discovered the existence of the remarkable new
elements, but it was chiefly by their radiant
properties that these new substances were dis¬
tinguished from the bismuth and barium with
which they were mixed in minute quantities. We
had still to separate them as pure elements. On
this work we now started.

We were very poorly equipped with facilities
for this purpose. It was necessary to subject

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

185

large quantities of ore to careful chemical treat¬
ment. We had no money, no suitable laboratory,
no personal help for our great and difficult under¬
taking. It was like creating something out of
nothing, and if my earlier studying years had
once been called by my brother-in-law the heroic
period of my life, I can say without exaggera¬
tion that the period on which my husband and I
now entered was truly the heroic one of our
common life.

We knew by our experiments that in the treat¬
ment of pitchblende at the uranium plant of
St. Joachimsthal, radium must have been left in
the residues, and, with the permission of the
Austrian government, which owned the plant, we
succeeded in securing a certain quantity of these
residues, then quite valueless, — and used them
for extraction of radium. How glad I was when
the sacks arrived, with the brown dust mixed
with pine needles, and when the activity proved
even greater than that of the primitive ore! It
was a stroke of luck that the residues had not
been thrown far away or disposed of in some
way, hut left in a heap in the pine wood near
the plant. Some time later, the Austrian gov¬
ernment, on the proposition of the Academy of
Science of Vienna, let us have several tons of
similar residues at a low price. With this ma-

186

PIERRE CURIE

terial was prepared all the radium I had in my
laboratory up to the date when I received the
precious gift from the American women.

The School of Physics could give us no suit¬
able premises, but for lack of anything better,
the Director permitted us to use an abandoned
shed which had been in service as a dissecting
room of the School of Medicine. Its glass roof
did not afford complete shelter against rain; the
heat was suffocating in summer, and the bitter
cold of winter was only a little lessened by the
iron stove, except in its immediate vicinity.
There was no question of obtaining the needed
proper apparatus in common use by chemists.
We simply had some old pine-wood tables with
furnaces and gas burners. We had to use the
adjoining yard for those of our chemical opera¬
tions that involved producing irritating gases;
even then the gas often filled our shed. With
this equipment we entered on our exhausting
work.

Yet it was in this miserable old shed that we
passed the best and happiest years of our life,
devoting our entire days to our work. Often I
had to prepare our lunch in the shed, so as not
to interrupt some particularly important opera¬
tion. Sometimes I had to spend a whole day mix¬
ing a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

187

as large as myself. I would be broken with
fatigue at the day’s end. Other days, on the com
trary, the work would be a most minute and deli¬
cate fractional crystallization, in the effort to
concentrate the radium. I was then annoyed by
the floating dust of iron and coal from which I
could not protect my precious products. But I
shall never be able to express the joy of the
untroubled quietness of this atmosphere of
research and the excitement of actual progress
with the confident hope of still better results.
The feeling of discouragement that sometimes
came after some unsuccessful toil did not last
long and gave way to renewed activity. We had
happy moments devoted to a quiet discussion of
our work, walking around our shed.

One of our joys was to go into our workroom
at night; we then perceived on all sides the
feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or
capsules containing our products. It was really
a lovely sight and one always new to us. The
glowing tubes looked like faint, fairy lights.

Thus the months passed, and our efforts,
hardly interrupted by short vacations, brought
forth more and more complete evidence. Our
faith grew ever stronger, and our work being
more and more known, we found means to get
new quantities of raw material and to carry on

188

PIERRE CURIE

some of our crude processes in a factory, allow¬
ing me to give more time to the delicate finish¬
ing treatment.

At this stage I devoted myself especially to
the purification of the radium, my husband
being absorbed by the study of the physical
properties of the rays emitted by the new sub¬
stances. It was only after treating one ton of
pitchblende residues that I could get definite
results. Indeed we know to-day that even in the
best minerals there are not more than a few
decigrammes of radium in a ton of raw material.

At last the time came when the isolated sub¬
stances showed all the characters of a pure
chemical body. This body, the radium, gives a
characteristic spectrum, and I was able to de¬
termine for it an atomic weight much higher
than that of the barium. This was achieved in
1902. I then possessed one decigramme of very
pure radium chloride. It had taken me almost
four years to produce the kind of evidence which
chemical science demands, that radium is truly
a new element. One year would probably have
been enough for the same purpose, if reasonable
means had been at my disposal. The demonstra¬
tion that cost so much effort was the basis of
the new science of radioactivity.

In later ^ears I was able to prepare several

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

189

decigrammes of pure radium salt, to make a more
accurate determination of the atomic weight and
even to isolate the pure radium metal. However,
1902 was the year in which the existence and
character of radium were definitely established.

We had been able to live for several years
entirely engrossed in the work of research, but
gradually circumstances changed. In 1900 my
husband was offered a professorship in the Uni¬
versity of Geneva, but almost simultaneously he
obtained a position of assistant professor at the
Sorbonne, and I was made professor at the
Normal Superior School for young girls at
Sevres. So we remained in Paris.

I became much interested in my work in the
Normal School, and endeavored to develop more
fully the practical laboratory exercises of the
pupils. These pupils were girls of about twenty
years who had entered the school after severe
examination and had still to work very seriously
to meet the requirements that would enable them
to be named professors in the lycees. All these
young women worked with great eagerness, and
it was a pleasure for me to direct their studies
in physics.

But a growing notoriety, because of the
announcement of our discoveries, began to trou¬
ble our quiet work in the laboratory, and, little

190

PIERRE CURIE

by little, life became more difficult. In 1903 I
finished my doctor’s thesis and obtained the de¬
gree. At the end of the same year the Nobel
prize was awarded jointly to Becquerel, my hus¬
band and me for the discovery of radioactivity
and new radioactive elements.

This event greatly increased the publicity of
our work. For some time there was no more
peace. Visitors and demands for lectures and
articles interrupted every day.

The award of the Nobel prize was a great
honor. It is also known that the material means
provided by this prize was much greater than is
usual in prizes for science. This was a great help
in the continuation of our researches. Unhap¬
pily, we were overtired and had a succession of
failures of health for the one or the other of us,
so that it was not until 1905 that we were able
to go to Stockholm, where my husband gave his
Nobel lecture and where we were well received.

The fatigue resulting from the effort exceed¬
ing our forces, imposed by the unsatisfactory
conditions of our labor, was augmented by the in¬
vasion of publicity. The overturn of our volun¬
tary isolation was a cause of real suffering for us
and had all the effect of disaster. It was serious
trouble brought into the organization of our life,
and I have already explained how indispensable

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

191

was our freedom from external distraction, in
order to maintain our family life and our scien¬
tific activity. Of course, people who contribute
to that kind of trouble generally meafi it kindly.
It is only that they do not realize the conditions
of the problem.

In 1904 our second daughter, Eve Denise,
came to us. I had, of course, to interrupt my
work in the laboratory for a while. In the same
year, because of the awarding of the Nobel prize
and the general public recognition, a new chair
of physics was created in Sorbonne, and my hus¬
band was named as its occupant. At the same
time I was named chief of work in the labora¬
tory that was to be created for him. But in reality
the laboratory was not constructed then, and only
a few rooms taken from other uses were available
to us.

In 1906 just as we were definitely giving up
the old shed laboratory where we had been so
happy, there came the dreadful catastrophe
which took my husband away from me and left
me alone to bring up our children and, at the
same time, to continue our work of research.

It is impossible for me to express the pro¬
foundness and importance of the crisis brought
into my life by the loss of the one who had been
my closest companion and best friend. Crushed

192

PIERRE CURIE

by the blow, I did not feel able to face the future.
I could not forget, however, what my husband
used sometimes to say, that, even deprived of
him, I ought to continue my work.

The death of my husband, coming immedi¬
ately after the general knowledge of the dis¬
coveries with which his name is associated, was
felt by the public, and especially by the scientific
circles, to be a national misfortune. It was
largely under the influence of this emotion that
the Faculty of Sciences of Paris decided to offer
me the chair, as professor, which my husband
had occupied only one year and a half in the
Sorbonne. It was an exceptional decision, as up
to then no woman had held such a position. The
University by doing this offered me a precious
mark of esteem and gave me opportunity to
pursue the researches which otherwise might
have had to be abandoned. I had not expected a
gift of this kind ; I never had any other ambition
than to be able to work freely for science. The
honor that now came to me was deeply painful
under the cruel circumstances of its coming.
Besides I wondered whether I would be able to
face such a grave responsibility. After much
hesitation, I decided that I ought at least to try
to meet thp task, and so I began in 1906
my teaching in the Sorbonne, as assistant pro-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

193

fessor, and two years later I was named titular
professor.

In my new situation the difficulties of my life
were considerably augmented, as I alone had
now to carry the burden formerly weighing on
my husband and me together. The cares of my
young children required close vigilance; in this,
my husband’s father, who continued to live with
us, willingly took his share. He was happy to
be occupied with the little girls, whose company
was his chief consolation after his son’s death.
By his effort and mine, the children had a bright
home, even if we lived with our inner grief,
which they were too young to realize. The strong
desire of my father-in-law being to live in the
country, we took a house with a garden in
Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, from which I could
reach the city in half an hour.

This country life had great advantages, not
only for my father-in-law, who enjoyed his new
surroundings, and especially his garden, but also
for my girls, who had the benefit of walks in the
open country. But they were more separated
from me, and it became necessary to have a gov¬
erness for them. This position was filled first by
one of my cousins, and then by a devoted woman
who had already brought up the daughter of one
of my sisters. Both of them were Polish, and in

194

PIERRE CURIE

this way my daughters learned my native tongue.
From time to time, some one of my Polish family
came to see me in my grief, and we managed to
meet in vacation time, at the seashore in France,
and once in the mountains of Poland.

In 1910 we suffered the loss of my very dear
father-in-law, after a long illness, which brought
me many sorrowful days. I used to spend at his
bedside as much time as I could, listening
to his remembrances of passed years. His death
affected deeply my elder daughter, who, at
twelve, knew the value of the cheerful hours
spent in his company.

There were few resources for the education
of my daughters in Sceaux. The youngest one,
a small child, needed principally a hygienic life,
outdoor walks and quite elementary schooling.
She had already shown a vivid intelligence and
an unusual disposition for music. Her elder sis¬
ter resembled her father in the form of her
intelligence. She was not quick, hut one could
already see that she had a gift of reasoning power
and that she would like science. She had some
training in a private school in Paris, but I had
not wanted to keep her in a lycee, as I have
always found the class hours in these schools too
long for the health of the children.

My view Ik that in the education of children

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

195

the requirement of their growth and physical
evolution should be respected, and that some
time should be left for their artistic culture. In
most schools, as they exist to-day, the time spent
in various reading and writing exercises is too
great, and the study required to be done at home
too much. I also find these schools lacking, in
general, in practical exercises to accompany the
scientific studies.

With a few friends in the university circle
who shared these views, we organized, therefore,
a cooperative group for the education of our chil¬
dren, each of us taking charge of the teaching
of a particular subject to all of the young people.
We were all very busy with other things, and the
children varied in age. Nevertheless, the little
experiment thus made was very interesting.
With a small number of classes we yet succeeded
in reuniting the scientific and literary elements
of a desirable culture. The courses in science
were accompanied by practical exercises in which
the children took great interest.

This arrangement, which lasted two years,
proved to be very beneficial for most of the chil¬
dren; it was certainly so for my elder daughter.
Following this preparation, she was able to enter
a higher class in one of the colleges of Paris,
and had no difficulty in passing her bachelor’s

196

PIERRE CURIE

examination before the usual age, after which
she continued her scientific studies in the
Sorbonne.

My second daughter, although not benefiting
by a similar arrangement for her earlier studies,
at first followed the classes of a college only par¬
tially, and later completely. She showed her¬
self a good pupil, doing satisfactory work in all
directions.

I wanted very much to assure for my children
a rational physical education. Next to outdoor
walks, I attach a great importance to gymnastics
and sports. This side of a girl’s education is
still rather neglected in France. I took care that
my children did gymnastics regularly. I was also
careful to have them spend vacations either in
the mountains or at the seashore. They can
canoe and swim very well and are not afraid of
a long walk or a bicycle ride.

But of course the care of my children’s educa¬
tion was only a part of my duties, my profes¬
sional occupations taking most of my time. I
have been frequently questioned, especially by
women, how I could reconcile family life with a
scientific career. Well, it has not been easy; it
required a great deal of decision and of self-
sacrifice. However, the family bond has been
preserved between me and my now grown-up

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

197

daughters, and life is made brighter by the
mutual affection and understanding in our home,
where I could not suffer a harsh word or selfish
behavior.

In 1906, when I succeeded my husband at the
Sorbonne, I had only a provisional laboratory
with little space and most limited equipment. A
few scientists and students had already been
admitted to work there with my husband and
me. With their help, I was able to continue the
course of research with good success.

In 1907, I received a precious mark of sym¬
pathy from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who donated
to my laboratory an annual income for research
fellowships which enabled some advanced stu¬
dents or scientists to devote their whole time to
investigation. Such foundations are very encour¬
aging to those whose inclinations and talents are
such as to warrant their entire devotion to re¬
search work. They ought to be multiplied in the
interest of science.

As for myself, I had to devote again a great
deal of time to the preparation of several
decigrammes of very pure radium chloride.
With this I achieved, in 1907, a new determina¬
tion of the atomic weight of radium, and in
1910 I was able to isolate the metal. The
operation, an extremely delicate one, was per-

198

PIERRE CURIE

formed with the assistance of a distinguished
chemist belonging to the laboratory staff. It has
never been repeated since that time, because it
involves a serious danger of loss of radium,
which can be avoided only with utmost care. So
I saw at last the mysterious white metal, but
could not keep it in this state, for it was required
for further experiments.

As for the polonium, I have not been able to
isolate it, its quantity in the mineral being even
much less than the quantity of radium. How¬
ever, very concentrated polonium has been
prepared in my laboratory, and important ex¬
periments have been performed with this sub¬
stance, concerning especially the production of
helium by radiation of polonium.

I had to devote special care to the im¬
provement of the measuring methods in the
laboratory. I have told how important precise
measurements were in the discovery of radium.
It is still to be hoped that efficient methods of
quantitative determination may lead to new
discoveries.

I devised a very satisfactory method for
determining the quantity of radium by the means
of a radioactive gas produced by it and called
“emanation.” This method, frequently used in
my laboratory, permits of the measurement of

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

199

very small quantities of radium (less than a thou¬
sandth of a milligramme), with a fair precision.
More important quantities are often measured
by their penetrating radiation, named Gamma-
rays. For this we also possess in my laboratory a
suitable equipment. It is easier and more satis¬
factory to measure the radium by the emitted
rays, than to weigh it in a balance. However,
these measurements require the disposition of
reliable standards. So the question of a ra¬
dium standard had to be taken into careful
consideration.

The measurements of radium had to be estab¬
lished on a solid basis, for the benefit of
laboratories and scientific research, which, of
course, is in itself an important reason, and more¬
over, the growing medical utilization of this
substance made it necessary to control the rela¬
tive purity of commercially produced radium.

The first experiments on the biological prop¬
erties of radium were successfully made in
France with samples from our laboratory, while
my husband was living. The results were, at
once, encouraging, so that the new branch of
medical science, called radiumtherapy (in
France, Curietherapy ), developed rapidly, first
in France and later in other countries. To sup¬
ply the radium wanted for this purpose, a

200

PIERRE CURIE

radium-producing industry was established. The
first plant was created in France and worked
very successfully, but afterwards manufactures
were founded in other countries, the most im¬
portant of which are now in America, where
great quantities of radium ore, named “carno-
tite,” are available. The radiumtherapy and the
radium production developed conjointly, and
the results were more and more important, for
the treatment of several diseases, and particu¬
larly of cancer. As a consequence of this, several
institutes have been founded, in the large cities,
for the application of the new therapy. Some of
these institutes own several grammes of radium,
the commercial price of the gramme being now
about $70,000, the cost of production depending
on the very small proportion of radium in the ore.

It may be easily understood how deeply I
appreciated the privilege of realizing that our
discovery had become a benefit to mankind, not
only through its great scientific importance, but
also by its power of efficient action against human
suffering and terrible disease. This was indeed a
splendid reward for our years of hard toil.

The success of the therapy depends, of course,
on the precise knowledge of the quantity of
radium which is used, so that the measurements

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

201

of radium are as important for industry and for
medicine as for physicochemical research.

Considering all these needs, a commission of
scientific men of different countries was formed
who agreed to take as a base an international
standard, formed of a carefully weighed quantity
of pure radium salt. Secondary standards were
then to be prepared for each country, and com¬
pared to the basic standard by means of their
radiation. I was appointed to prepare the pri¬
mary standard.

This was a very delicate operation, as the
weight of the standard sample, quite small
(about 21 milligrammes of chloride), had to be
determined with great precision. I performed the
preparation in 1911. The standard is a thin
glass tube, of a few centimeters in length, con¬
taining the pure salt which was used for the de¬
termination of atomic weight. It was accepted
by the Commission and is deposited in the Inter¬
national Bureau of Weights and Measures at
Sevres, near Paris. Several secondary standards,
compared with the primary one, have been put
into service by the Commission. In France the
control of radium tubes, by the measurement of
their radiation, takes place in my laboratory,
where any one may bring the radium to be tested ;

202 PIERRE CURIE

in the United States this is done in the Bureau
of Standards.

Near the end of the year 1910, 1 was proposed
for the decoration of the Legion of Honor. A
similar proposal was made earlier in favor of
my husband, who, however, being opposed to all
honorary distinctions, did not accept the nomina¬
tion. As my husband and I were too united in all
things for me to act differently from him in this
matter, I did not accept the decoration, in spite
of the insistence of the Ministry. At that time
also, several colleagues persuaded me to be a
candidate for election to the Academy of Sci¬
ences of Paris, of which my husband was a
member during the last months of his life. I
hesitated very much, as such a candidacy re¬
quires, by custom, a great number of personal
visits to Academy members. However, I con¬
sented to offer myself a candidate, because of
the advantages an election would have for my
laboratory. My candidacy provoked a vivid pub
lie interest, especially because it involved the
question of the admission of women to the
Academy. Many of the Academicians were op¬
posed to this in principle, and when the scrutiny
was made, I had a few votes less than was neces¬
sary. I do not ever wish to renew my candidacy,
because of my strong distaste for the personal

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

203

solicitation required. I believe that all such
elections should be based wholly on a spon¬
taneous decision, without any personal efforts
involved, as was the case for several Academies
and Societies which made me a member without
any demand or initiative on my part.

As a result of all the cares devolving on me,
I fell seriously ill at the end of 1911, when, for
the second time, I received, this time alone, the
award of the Nobel prize. This was a very ex¬
ceptional honor, a high recognition of the dis¬
covery of the new elements and of the prepara¬
tion of pure radium. Suffering though I was, I
went to Stockholm to receive the prize. The
journey was extremely painful for me. I was
accompanied by my eldest sister and my young
daughter Irene. The ceremony of delivery of the
Nobel prizes is very impressive, having the fea¬
tures of a national solemnity. A most generous
reception was accorded me, specially by the
women of Sweden. This was a great comfort to
me, but I was suffering so much that when I
returned I had to stay in bed for several months.
This grave illness, as well as the necessities of
my children’s education, obliged me to move my
home from Sceaux to Paris.

During the year 1912 I had the opportunity
of collaborating in the creation of a laboratory

204

PIERRE CURIE

of radium at Warsaw. This laboratory was
founded by the Scientific Society of Warsaw
which offered me its direction. I could not leave
France to go back to my native country, but I
willingly agreed to occupy myself with the organ¬
ization of the studies in the new laboratory. In
1913, having improved my health, I was able to
attend an inauguration fete in Warsaw, where
a touching reception was given, leaving me an
unforgettable memory of national sentiment
which succeeded in creating useful work under
particularly difficult political conditions.

While still only partially recovered from my
illness, I renewed my efforts for the construction
of a suitable laboratory in Paris. Finally it was
arranged for, and work began in 1912. The
Pasteur Institute wished to be associated with
this laboratory, and, in accord with the Univer¬
sity, it was decided to create an Institute of
Radium, with two laboratories, one of physics
and one of biology, the first to be devoted to
studies of the physical and chemical properties
of the radioactive elements, the second to the
study of their biological and medical applica¬
tions. But, because of the lack of financial
means, the construction work proceeded very
slowly, and was not yet entirely finished when
the war broke out in 1914.

CHAPTER III

Jn 1914, it happened, as it often had in other
years, that my daughters had left Paris for
their summer vacation before me. They were
accompanied by their governess, in whom I had
all confidence, and were living in a small house
on the seashore in Brittany, at a place where
there were also the families of several of our
good friends. My work did not generally permit
me to pass the entire vacation near them with¬
out interruption.

That year I was preparing to join them in the
last days of July, when I was stopped by the bad
political news, with its premonitions of an
imminent military mobilization. It did not seem
possible for me to leave under these conditions,
and I waited for further events. The mobiliza¬
tion was announced on August 1st, immediately
followed by Germany’s declaration of war on
France. The few men of the laboratory staff and
the students were mobilized, and I was left alone
with our mechanic who could not join the army
because of a serious heart trouble.

The historic events that followed are known

205

206

PIERRE CURIE

to every one, but only those who lived in Paris
through the days of August and September,
1914, can ever really know the state of mind in
the capital and the quiet courage shown by it.
The mobilization was a general wave of all
France passing out to the border for the defense
of the land. All our interest now centered on the
news from the front.

After the uncertainties of the first days this
news became more and more grave.

First, it was the invasion of Belgium and the
heroic resistance of that little country; then the
victorious march of the German army through
the valley of the Oise toward Paris ; and soon the
departure of the French government to Bor¬
deaux, followed by the leaving of those Parisians
who could not, or would not, face the possible
danger of German occupation. The overloaded
trains took into the country a great number of
people, mostly of the well-to-do class. But, on
the whole, the people of Paris gave a strong
impression of calm and quiet decision in that
fateful year of 1914. In the end of August and
the beginning of September the weather was
radiant, and under the glorious sky of those days
the great city with its architectural treasures
seemed to be particularly dear to those who re¬
mained in it. v

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

207

When the danger of German attack on Paris
became pressing, I felt obliged to put in security
the supply of radium then in my laboratory, and
I was charged by the government to take it to
Bordeaux for safety. But I did not want to be
away long, and hence decided to return imme¬
diately. I left by one of the trains that were
carrying government staff and baggage, and I
well remember the aspect of the national high¬
way which is at intervals in view from the train ;
it showed a long line of motor-cars carrying their
owners from the capital.

Arriving at Bordeaux in the evening, I
was very embarrassed with my heavy bag in¬
cluding the radium protected by lead. I was
not able to carry it and waited in a public
place, while a friendly ministry employee who
came by the same train managed to find a
room for me in a private apartment, the hotels
being overcrowded. The next morning I hur¬
ried to put the radium in a safe place, and
succeeded, although not without difficulty, in
taking a military train hack to Paris in the eve¬
ning of the same day. Having opportunity for
exchanging a few sentences with persons on the
place who wanted to ask information from peo¬
ple coming by the train, I was interested to notice
how they seemed surprised and comforted to

208 PIERRE CURIE

learn of some one who found it natural to re¬
turn to Paris.

My trip back was troubled by delays ; for sev¬
eral hours the train rested immovable on the
rails, while the travelers accepted a little bread
from the soldiers who were provided with it.
Finally arriving in Paris, I learned that the Ger¬
man army had turned; the battle of the Marne
had begun.

In Paris I shared the alternating hope and
grief of the inhabitants during the course of that
great battle, and had the constant worry of fore¬
seeing a long separation from my children in case
the Germans succeeded in occupying the city.
Yet I felt that I must stay at my post. After the
successful outcome of the battle, however, any
immediate danger of occupation being removed,
I was able to have my daughters come back from
Brittany to Paris and again take up their studies.
This was the great desire of my children, who did
not want to stay away from me and from their
work, even if many other families thought it
wiser to stay in the country, far from the front.

The dominant duty imposed on every one at
that time was to help the country in whatever
way possible during the extreme crisis that it
faced. No general instructions to this were given
to the members of the University. It was left to

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 209

each to take his own initiative and means of
action. I therefore sought to discover the most
efficient way to do useful work, turning my scien¬
tific knowledge to most profit.

During the rapid succession of events in
August, 1914, it was clearly proved that the
preparation for defense was insufficient. Public
feeling was especially aroused by the realization
of the grave failings which appeared in the
organization of the Health Service. My own
attention was particularly drawn to this situa¬
tion, and I soon found a field of activity which,
once entered upon, absorbed the greatest part
of my time and efforts until the end of the war,
and even for some time thereafter. The work
was the organization of radiologic and radio-
therapeutic services for the military hospitals.
But I also had to make the change, during these
difficult war years, of my laboratory into the new
building of the Institute of Radium and to con¬
tinue, in the measure possible to me, regular
teaching, as well as to investigate certain prob¬
lems especially interesting the military service.

It is well known that the X-rays offer surgeons
and doctors extremely useful means for the
examination of the sick and wounded. They
make possible the discovery and the exact loca¬
tion of projectiles which have entered the body,

210

PIERRE CURIE

and this is a great help in their extraction.
These rays also reveal lesions of bones and of
the internal organs and permit one to follow the
progress of recovery from internal injuries. The
use of the X-rays during the war saved the lives
of many wounded men ; it also saved many from
long suffering and lasting infirmity. To all the
wounded it gave a greater chance of recovery.

However, at the beginning of the war, the
Military Board of Health had no organization
of radiology, while the civil organization was
also but little developed. Radiologic installa¬
tions existed in only a small number of impor-
tants hospitals, and there were only a few
specialists in the large cities. The numerous new
hospitals that were established all over France
in the first months of the war had, as a rule, no
installation for the use of X-rays.

To meet this need I first gathered together all
the apparatus I could find in the laboratories
and stores. With this equipment I established
in August and September, 1914, several stations
of radiology, the operation of which was assured
by volunteer helpers to whom I gave instruction.
These stations rendered great service during the
battle of the Marne. But as they could not sat¬
isfy the need^ of all the hospitals of the Paris
region, I fitted up, with the help of the Red

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

211

Cross, a radiologic car. It was simply a touring
motor-car, arranged for the transport of a com¬
plete radiologic apparatus, together with a
dynamo that was worked by the engine of the
car, and furnished the electric current necessary
for the production of the rays. This car could
come at the call of any of the hospitals, large
or small, in the surroundings of Paris. Cases
of urgent need were frequent, for these hospitals
had to take care of the wounded who could not
be transported to more distant places.

The first results of this work showed that it
was necessary to do more. Thanks to special
donations and to the help of a very efficient relief
committee called “le Patronage National des
Blesses,” I succeeded in developing my initiative
to a considerable extent. About two hundred
radiologic installations were established or ma¬
terially improved through my efforts in the zone
of the French and Belgian armies, and in the
regions of France not occupied by the army. I
was able, besides, to equip in my laboratory and
give to the army twenty radiologic cars. The
frames of these cars were donated by various
persons who wished to be helpful ; some of them
offered also the equipment. The cars were of
the greatest service to the army.

These privately developed installations were

212

PIERRE CURIE

particularly important in the first two years of
the war, when the regular military service pos¬
sessed but few radiologic instruments. Later the
Board of Health created, little by little, a con¬
siderable radiologic service of its own, as the
utility of the stations was more clearly realized
owing to the example given by private initiative.
But the needs of the armies were so great, that
my cooperation continued necessary to the end
of the war, and even afterwards.

I could not have accomplished this work with¬
out seeing for myself the needs of the ambulance
stations and hospitals. Thanks to the help of the
Red Cross and to the agreement of the Board of
Health, I was able to make several journeys to
the army zones and to the other parts of France.
Several times I visited the ambulance stations of
the armies of the north and in the Belgian zone,
going to Amiens, Calais, Dunkirk, Furnes, and
Poperinghe. I went to Verdun, Nancy, Luneville,
Belfort, to Compiegne, and Villers-Cotterets. In
the regions distant from the front, I took care of
many hospitals which had to do very intensive
work with little aid. And I keep as a precious
recollection of that time, many letters ‘of warm
recognition from those to whom I brought help
in their difficulties.

The motive of my starting on a journey was

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

213

usually a demand from surgeons. I went with a
radiologic car which I kept for my personal use.
In examining the wounded in the hospital, I
could gain information of the special needs of
the region. When back in Paris, I got the neces¬
sary equipment to meet these needs and returned
to install it myself, for very often the people on
the ground could not do it. I had then to find
competent persons to handle the apparatus and
show them how to do it, in full detail. After a
few days of hard toil, the manipulator knew
enough to work the apparatus himself, and at
the same time a large number of wounded had
been examined. In addition, the surgeons of the
region had gained an idea of the usefulness of
the radiologic examination (which few of them
knew at that time), and friendly relations were
established which made the later development
of my work much easier.

On several of my trips I was accompanied by
my elder daughter, Irene, who was then seven¬
teen years old, and, having finished her prepara¬
tory studies, was beginning higher studies at the
Sorbonne. Because she greatly desired to be
useful, she now studied nursing and learned
radiology, and did her best to help me under
the most varied circumstances. She did ambu¬
lance work at the front between Furnes and

214

PIERRE CURIE

Ypres, and also at Amiens, receiving, from the
Chiefs of Service, testimonials of work satisfac¬
torily performed and, at the end of the war, a
medal.

Of the hospital life of those years, we keep
many a remembrance, my daughter and I. Trav¬
eling conditions were extraordinarily difficult;
we were often not sure of being able to press
forward, to say nothing of the uncertainty of
finding lodgings and food. However, things
always ended in arranging themselves, thanks to
our persistence and to the good will we met.
Wherever we went I had to look after each
detail myself and see innumerable military
chiefs to obtain passes and permissions for
transportation. Many a time I loaded my ap¬
paratus on to the train myself, with the help of
the employees, to make sure that it would go
forward instead of remaining behind several
days at the station. And on arrival I also went
to extract them from the encumbered station.

When I traveled with the radiologic car, other
problems presented themselves. I had, for
instance, to find safe places for the car, to get
lodgings for the assistants and to secure the
automobile accessories. Since chauffeurs were
scarce, I learned to drive the car, and did it when
necessary. Owing to all this personal super-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

215

vision, my installations were usually swiftly
made, whereas appeal to the Central Health
Service was answered slowly. So the military
chiefs greatly appreciated the assistance they
could get from me, especially in cases of urgent
need.

We both, my daughter and myself, have
pleasant and grateful memories of the personnel
of the hospitals, and were on the best terms with
the surgeons and nurses. One could not but
admire these men and women who were giving
their services without counting, and whose task
was often overwhelming. Our collaboration was
easy, for my daughter and I tried to work in their
spirit; and we felt that we were standing side by
side with friends.

While we were attached to the Belgian Ambu¬
lance Service, we were present several times
during visits of King Albert and Queen Eliza¬
beth. We appreciated deeply their devotion,
their solicitude for the wounded, their extreme
simplicity, and the cordiality of their behavior.

But nothing was so moving as to be with the
wounded and to take care of them. We were
drawn to them because of their suffering and be¬
cause of the patience with which they bore it.
Almost everyone did his best to facilitate the
X-ray examination, notwithstanding the pain

216

PIERRE CURIE

caused by any displacement. One learned very
soon to know them individually and to exchange
with them a few friendly words. Those who
were not familiar with the examination, wanted
very much to be reassured about the effect of
the strange apparatus they were going to
experience.

I can never forget the terrible impression of
all that destruction of human life and health.
To hate the very idea of war, it ought to be
sufficient to see once what I have seen so many
times, all through those years: men and boys
brought to the advanced ambulance in a mixture
of mud and blood, many of them dying of their
injuries, many others recovering but slowly
through months of pain and suffering.

One of my difficult problems was to find the
necessary trained assistants to operate my ap¬
paratus. At the beginning of the war there was
little knowledge of radiology, and apparatus in
the hands of those who did not understand how
to handle it deteriorated quickly and was soon
useless. The practice of radiology in most hos¬
pitals in war-time does not require much medical
knowledge; it can be sufficiently grasped by in¬
telligent persons who know how to study and
who have soipe notion of electrical machinery.
Professors, engineers, or university students

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

217

often made good manipulators. I had to look for
those who were temporarily free from military
service, or who happened to be stationed in the
locality where I needed them. But even after I
had secured them, these operators were often
transferred by military orders, and I had to
search again for others to fill their places. For
this reason, I determined to train women to do
this work.

Accordingly, I proposed to the Health Service
to add a department of radiology to the Nurses’
School which had just been founded at the Edith
Cavell Hospital. This they agreed to do. And
so, in 1916, the course was organized at the
Radium Institute, and provided in the following
years of war for the training of one hundred and
fifty operators. Most of the pupils who applied
had only an elementary education, but could
succeed if working in a proper way. The course
comprised theoretical studies and very extended
practical training; it included also some instruc¬
tion in anatomy. It was given by a few persons
of good will, among them my daughter. Our
graduates formed an excellent personnel very
genuinely appreciated by the Board of Health.
Theoretically, they were supposed to serve as
aides to physicians, but several of them proved
capable of independent work.

218

PIERRE CURIE

My continued and various experience in war
radiology gave me a wide knowledge of that sub¬
ject, which I felt should be made more familiar
to the public. So I wrote a small book called
“Radiology and the War,” in which I aimed to
demonstrate the vital importance of radiology
and to compare its development during war time
with its use in the previous time of peace.

I come now to the account of the founding of
the service of radiumtherapy at the Radium
Institute.

In 1915, the radium, which had been safely
deposited in Bordeaux, was brought back to
Paris, and not having time for regular scientific
research, I decided to use it to cure the wounded,
without, however, risking the loss of this
precious material. I proceeded to place at the
disposal of the Health Service not the radium
itself, but the emanation which can be obtained
from it at regular intervals. The technique of
the use of the emanation can readily be em¬
ployed in the larger radiumtherapy institutes,
and, in many ways, is more practicable than the
direct use of radium. In France, however, there
was no national institute of radiumtherapy, and
the emanation was not used in hospitals.

I offered to furnish regularly to the Health
Service bulfes of radium emanation. The offer

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

219

was accepted, and the “Emanation Service,”
started in 1916, was continued until the end of
the war and even longer. Having no assistants,
I had, for a long time, to prepare these emana¬
tion bulbs alone, and their preparation is very
delicate. Numbers of wounded and sick, mili¬
tary and civil, were treated by means of these
bulbs.

During the bombardment of Paris, the Health
Board took special measures to protect from
shells the laboratory in which the bulbs were
prepared. Since the handling of radium is far
from being free of danger (several times I have
felt a discomfort which I consider a result of
this cause), measures were taken to prevent
harmful effects of the rays on the persons pre¬
paring emanation.

While the work in connection with the hos¬
pitals remained my major interest, I had many
other preoccupations during the war.

After the failure of the German offensive in
the summer of 1918, at the request of the
Italian government, I went to Italy to study the
question of her natural resources in radioactive
materials. I remained a month and was able to
obtain certain results in interesting the public
authorities in the importance of this new subject.

It was in 1915 that I had to move my labora-

220

PIERRE CURIE

tory to the new building in the rue Pierre Curie.
This was a trying and complicated experience,
for which, once more, I had no money nor any
help. So it was only between my journeys that
I was able, little by little, to do the transporta¬
tion of my laboratory equipment, in my radio-
logic cars. Afterwards, I had much work in
classifying and distributing my materials, and
arranging the new place in general, with the
help of my daughter and of my mechanic, who,
unfortunately, was often ill.

One of my first cares was to have trees planted
in the limited grounds of my laboratory. I feel
it very necessary for the eyes to have the comfort
of fresh leaves in spring and summer time. So
I tried to make things pleasant for those who
were to work in the new building. We planted
a few lime trees and plane trees, as many as
there was room for, and did not forget flowerbeds
and roses. I well remember the first day of
bombardment of Paris with the big German
gun; we had gone, in the early morning, to the
flower-market, and spent all that day busy with
our plantation, while a few shells fell in the
vicinity.

In spite of the great difficulties, the new
laboratory was organized little by little, and I
had the satisfaction of having it quite ready for

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

221

the beginning of the school-year 1919-20, the
period of demobilization. In the spring of 1919,
I organized special courses for some American
soldier students, who also studied with much
zeal the practical exercises directed by my
daughter.

The entire period of the war was for me, as
for many others, a period of great fatigue. I
took almost no vacation, except for a few days,
now and then, when I went to see my daughters
on their holidays. My older daughter would
scarcely take any, and I was obliged to send her
away sometimes to preserve her health. She was
continuing her studies in the Sorbonne, and be¬
sides, as said before, was helping me with my
war work, while the younger daughter was still in
the preparatory college. Neither of them wished
to leave Paris during the bombardment.

After more than four years of a war which
caused ravages without precedent, the armistice
came at last, in the autumn of 1918, followed
by laborious efforts to reestablish peace, which
is not yet general nor complete. It was a great
relief to France to see the end of that dark
period of cruel losses. But the griefs are too
recent and life still too hard for calm and happi¬
ness yet to be restored.

Nevertheless, a great joy came to me as a

222 PIERRE CURIE

consequence of the victory obtained by the sac¬
rifice of so many human lives. I had lived,
though I had scarcely expected it, to see the
reparation of more than a century of injustice
that had been done to Poland, my native coun¬
try, and that had kept her in slavery, her terri¬
tories and people divided among her enemies.
It was a deserved resurrection for the Polish
nation, which showed herself faithful to her
national memories during the long period of
oppression, almost without hope. The dream
that appeared so difficult to realize, although so
dear, became a reality following the storm that
swept over Europe. In these new conditions I
went to Warsaw and saw my family again, after
many years of separation, in the capital of free
Poland. But how difficult are the conditions of
life of the new Polish republic, and how compli¬
cated is the problem of reorganization after so
many years of abnormal life !

In France, partly devastated and suffering
from the loss of so many of her citizens, the
difficulties created by the war are not yet effaced,
and the return to normal work is being attained
only gradually. The scientific laboratories feel
this state of affairs and the same condition pre¬
vails for the Radium Institute.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

223

The various radiologic organizations created
during the war still partially exist. The Radio-
graphic Nurses’ School has been maintained at
the request of the Board of Health. The emana¬
tion service, which could not be abandoned, is
also continued in a considerably enlarged form.
It has passed under the direction of Doctor Re-
gaud, Director of the Pasteur Laboratory of the
Radium Institute, and is developing into a great
national service of radiumtherapy.

The work of the laboratory has been reor¬
ganized, with the return of the mobilized per¬
sonnel and the students. But in the restrained
circumstances under which the country still
exists, the laboratory lacks ways and means for
its efficient development. Particularly are
wanted an independent hospital for radium-
therapy (which is called Curietherapy in
France), and an experimental station, outside
of Paris, for experiments on great quantities of
material, such as are needed for tfie progress of
our knowledge of radioactive elements. '

I myself am no longer young, and I fre¬
quently ask myself whether, in spite of recent
efforts of the government aided by some private
donations, I shall ever succeed in building up
for those who will come after me an Institute of

224

PIERRE CURIE

Radium, such as I wish to the memory of Pierre
Curie and to the highest interest of humanity.

However, a precious encouragement came to
me in the year 1921. On the initiative of a gen¬
erous daughter of the United States, Mrs. W. B.
Meloney, the women of that great American
country collected a fund, the “Marie Curie
Radium Fund,” and offered me the gift of a
gramme of radium to be placed entirely at my
disposal for scientific research. Mrs. Meloney
invited me with my daughters to come to
America and to receive the gift, or the symbol
of it, from the hands of the President of the
great republic, at the White House.

The fund was collected by a public subscrip¬
tion, as well by small as by important gifts, and
I was very thankful to my sisters of America for
this genuine proof of their affection. So I started
for New York at the beginning of May, after a
ceremony given in my honor at the Opera of
Paris, to greet me before my departing.

I keep a grateful memory of my sojourn in the
United States for several weeks, of the impres¬
sive reception at the White House, where Presi¬
dent Harding addressed me in generous and
affectionate words, of my visits to the universi¬
ties and colleges which welcomed me and
bestowed on me their honorary degrees, of the

Madame Curie in her laboratory at the Institut Curie, Paris

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

225

public reunions where I could not but feel the
deep sympathy of those who came to meet me
and to wish me good luck.

I had also the opportunity of a visit to the
Niagara Falls and to the Grand Canyon, and
admired immensely these marvelous creations of
nature.

Unhappily, the precarious state of my health
did not permit of the complete fulfilment of the
general plan established by my visit to America.
However, I saw and learned much, and my
daughters enjoyed to a full extent the opportuni¬
ties of their unexpected vacation and the pride
in the recognition of their mother’s work. We
left for Europe at the end of June, with the real
sorrow of parting from excellent friends whom
we would not forget.

I came back to my work, made easier by the
precious gift, with an even stronger desire to
carry it forward with renewed courage. But as
my aims are still wanting support in essential
parts, I am frequently compelled to give thought
to a very fundamental question concerning the
view a scientist ought to take of his discovery.

My husband, as well as myself, always re¬
fused to draw from our discovery any material
profit. We have published, since the beginning,
without any reserve, the process that we used

226

PIERRE CURIE

to prepare the radium. We took out no patent
and we did not reserve any advantage in any in¬
dustrial exploitation. No detail was kept secret,
and it is due to the information we gave in our
publications that the industry of radium has
been rapidly developed. Up to the present time
this industry hardly uses any methods except
those established by us. The treatment of the
minerals and the fractional crystallizations are
still performed in the same way, as I did it in my
laboratory, even if the material means are
increased.

As for the radium prepared by me out of the
ore we managed to obtain in the first years of our
work, I have given it all to my laboratory.

The price of radium is very high since it is
found in minerals in very small quantities, and
the profits of its manufacture have been great,
as this substance is used to cure a number of
diseases. So it is a fortune which we have sacri¬
ficed in renouncing the exploitation of our dis¬
covery, a fortune that could, after us, have
gone to our children. But what is even more to
be considered is the objection of many of our
friends, who have argued, not without reason,
that if we had guaranteed our rights, we could
have had the financial means of founding a sat¬
isfactory Institute of Radium, without experienc-

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

227

ing any of the difficulties that have been such a
handicap to both of us, and are still a handicap
to me. Yet, I still believe that we have done
right.

Humanity, surely, needs practical men who
make the best of their work for the sake of their
own interests, without forgetting the general
interest. But it also needs dreamers, for whom
the unselfish following of a purpose is so im¬
perative that it becomes impossible for them to
devote much attention to their own material
benefit. No doubt it could be said that these
idealists do not deserve riches since they do not
have the desire for them. It seems, however,
that a society well organized ought to assure to
these workers the means for efficient labor, in a
life from which material care is excluded so that
this fife may be freely devoted to the service of
scientific research.

CHAPTER IV

■>

A VISIT TO AMERICA

M y beautiful voyage to the United States of
America resulted, as is known, from the gen¬
erous initiative of an American woman, Mrs,
Meloney, editor of an important magazine, the
Delineator, who, having planned the gift of a
gramme of radium to me by her countrywomen,
succeeded in a few months in bringing this plan
to execution, and asked me to come over and
receive the gift personally.

The idea was that the gift would come ex¬
clusively from the American women. A com¬
mittee including several prominent women and
distinguished scientific men received some im¬
portant gifts, and made an appeal for a public
subscription, to which a great number of
women’s organizations, especially colleges and
clubs, responded. In many cases gifts came
from persons who had experienced the benefit of
radiumtherapy. In this way was collected the
“Marie Curie*, Radium Fund” of more than

228

A VISIT TO AMERICA

229

one hundred thousand dollars for the purchase
of a gramme of radium. The President of the
United States, Mr. Harding, kindly agreed to
deliver the gift in a ceremony at the White
House.

The Committee invited me and my daughters
to the United States in May, and even though it
was not vacation time for me, I accepted the
invitation with the consent of the University
of Paris.

All care of the voyage was taken away from
me. Mrs. Meloney came to France in time to be
present at a manifestation organized on the 28th
of April in favor of the Radium Institute of
Paris by the magazine Je Sais Tout, and accom¬
panied by sincere expressions of sympathy for
the American nation. On May 4th, we took
passage at Cherbourg on the Olympic for New
York.

The program of my voyage prepared by the
Committee seemed very intimidating. It was
announced that I would not only attend the cere¬
mony at the White House, but also visit many
universities and colleges in several towns. Some
of these institutions had contributed to the
Fund; all desired to offer me honors. The vi¬
tality and the activity of the American nation
produces programs on a large scale. On the

230

PIERRE CURIE

other hand, the wideness of the country has de¬
veloped in American citizens the custom of long
travel. But ’during all that travel I was pro¬
tected with the greatest care, in order to lighten
as far as possible the inevitable fatigue of the
voyage and the receptions. America not only
gave me a generous welcome, but also true
friends whom I could not thank enough for their
kindness and their devotion.

After having admired the grand view of the
harbors of New York, and having been greeted
by groups of students, Girl Scouts, and Polish
delegates, and welcomed by many gifts of flow¬
ers, we took possession of a peaceful apartment
in town. The following day I made the ac¬
quaintance of the Reception Committee at a
luncheon given by Mrs. Carnegie in her beauti¬
ful home still filled with memories of her hus¬
band, Andrew Carnegie, whose philanthropic
achievements are well known in France. The
following day we went for a visit of a few days
to Smith College, and Vassar College, a few
hours from New York. Later I also visited the
colleges of Bryn Mawr and Wellesley, and I saw
some others on my way.

These colleges, or universities for women, are
very characteristic of American life and culture.
My short visit could not permit me to give an

A VISIT TO AMERICA

231

authorized opinion on the intellectual training,
but even in such a visit as I made one may notice
important differences between the French and
American conception of girls’ education, and
some of these differences would not be in favor
of our country. Two points have particularly
drawn my attention: the care of the health and
the physical development of the students, and
the very independent organization of their life
which allows a large degree of individual
initiative.

The colleges are excellent in their construc¬
tion and organization. They are composed of
several buildings, often scattered in very large
grounds between lawns and trees. Smith is on
the shore of a charming river. The equipment
is comfortable and hygienic, of extreme cleanli¬
ness, with bathrooms, showers, distribution of
cold and hot water. The students have cheerful
private rooms and common gathering rooms. A
very complete organization of games and sports
exists in every college. The students play tennis
and baseball; they have gymnasium, canoeing,
swimming, and horseback riding. Their health
is under the constant care of medical advisers.
It seems to be a frequent opinion of American
mothers that the existing atmosphere of cities
like New York is not favorable to the education

232

PIERRE CURIE

of young girls, and that a life in the country in
the open air gives more suitable conditions for
the health and the tranquillity of studying.

In every college the young girls form an as¬
sociation and elect a committee which has to
establish the internal rules of the college. The
students display a great activity: they take part
in educational work; they publish a paper; they
are devoted to songs and music; they write
plays, and act them in college and out of it.
These plays have interested me very much in
their subjects and the execution. The students are
also of different social conditions. Many of them
are of wealthy families, but many others live on
scholarships. The whole organization may be
considered as democratic. A few students are
foreigners, and we have met some French stu¬
dents very well pleased with the college life and
the studies.

Every college takes four years of study with
examinations from time to time. Some students
afterwards do personal work, and acquire the
degree of Doctor, which does not exactly corre¬
spond to the same title in France. The colleges
have laboratories with many good facilities for
experimentation .

I have been strongly impressed by the joy of
life animating these young girls and expanding

A VISIT TO AMERICA

233

on every occasion, like that of one of my visit. If
the ceremonies of the reception were performed
in a nearly military order, a spontaneity of youth
and happiness expressed itself in the songs of
greeting composed by the students, in the smil¬
ing and excited faces, and in the rushing over
the lawns to greet me at my arrival. This was
indeed a charming impression which I could not
forget.

Back in New York, several ceremonies
awaited me before my leaving for Washington.
A luncheon of the Chemists, a reception at the
Museum of Natural History and the Mineralogi-
cal Club, a dinner at the Institute of Social
Sciences, and a great meeting at Carnegie Hall,
where many delegations represented the faculties
and students of women’s colleges and universi¬
ties. At all these receptions I was greeted
in warm addresses by prominent men and
women, and I received honors very precious to
me because of the sincerity of the givers.
Neither has the part of national friendships been
forgotten; the address of Vice-President Cool-
idge was a noble recognition of the past where
French and Polish citizens have been helpful
to the young American Republic, and is also a
statement of fraternity strengthened by the
tempest of the last years.

234

PIERRE CURIE

It was in this atmosphere of affection created
by the convergence of intellectual and social
sympathies that there took place on May 20th
the beautiful ceremony at the White House. It
was a deeply moving ceremony in all its sim¬
plicity, occurring before a democratic gathering
including the President and Mrs. Harding, cabi¬
net officers, Judges of the Supreme Court, high
officers of Army and Navy, foreign diplomats,
representatives of women’s clubs and societies,
and prominent citizens of Washington and other
cities. It comprised a short presentation by the
French ambassador, M. Jusserand, a speech by
Mrs. Meloney for the American women, the ad¬
dress of President Harding, a few words of
gratitude said by me, a defile of the guests, and
a group picture for a souvenir, all this in the
admirable setting of the White House, peaceful
and dignified, white indeed between its green
lawns with wide prospects on that beautiful
afternoon of May. A remembrance never to be
forgotten was left by this reception in which the
chief representative of a great nation offered
me homage of infinite value, the testimonial of
the recognition of his country’s citizens.

The address of the President had been in¬
spired by the same sentiments as that of Vice-
President Codlidge, as far as concerned his ap-

Mme. Curie and President Harding at the White House, May 20, 1921, when a gram of radium
was presented to its discoverer by the women of America

A VISIT TO AMERICA

235

predation of France and Poland. This address
gave also an expression of the American feeling
which was emphasized by an exceptional so¬
lemnity in the delivering of the gift.

The American nation is generous, and always
ready to appreciate an action inspired by con¬
siderations of general interest. If the discovery
of radium has so much sympathy in America, it
is not only because of its scientific value, and of
the importance of medical utilization; it is also
because the discovery has been given to human¬
ity without reservation or material benefits to
the discoverers. Our American friends wanted to
honor this spirit animating the French science.

The radium itself was not brought to the
ceremony. The President presented me with the
symbol of the gift, a small golden key opening
the casket devised for the transportation of the
radium.

Our sojourn at Washington following the
principal ceremony included a very agreeable
reception at the French Embassy and the Polish
Legation, a reception at the National Museum,
and some laboratory visits.

The itinerary of our journey from Washing¬
ton included visits to the cities of Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, and New
Haven, a visit to the Grand Canyon, and

236

PIERRE CURIE

to Niagara Falls. On that trip I was the
guest of several universities which did me the
honor of bestowing honorary degrees on me. I
have to thank for these the universities of
Pennsylvania, of Pittsburgh, of Chicago, the
Northwestern University, Columbia University,
Yale University, the Women’s Medical College
of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania,
Smith College, and Wellesley College, while I
thank Harvard University for her reception.

The delivery of honorary degrees in American
universities is accompanied by solemnities. In
principle, the presence of the candidate is re¬
quired, and the delivery takes place at the an¬
nual commencement, but, in some cases, special
ceremonies were organized in my favor. The
university ceremonies in America are more fre¬
quent than in France, and play a more important
part in the university life. Especially is this
true at the annual commencement, which begins
with an academic procession over the grounds of
the university, the procession including the
officials, the professors, and graduates in
academic caps and gowns. Afterwards all as¬
semble in a hall where are announced the
diplomas corresponding to the grades of bach¬
elor, master, and doctor. There is always a
musical part in the program, and addresses are

A VISIT TO AMERICA

237

delivered by the officials of the university or
invited orators. These addresses are naturally
devoted to dignifying the ideals and the humani¬
tarian purposes of education; but in certain
cases it seems permitted to introduce a point of
American humor. These ceremonies are on the
whole very impressive, and certainly contribute
to keep a bond between the university and the
alumni. This is a favorable circumstance for
those great American universities which are
sustained entirely on private foundations. It is
only in more recent times that most States have
created universities supported by the State.

At Yale University I had the pleasure of rep¬
resenting the University of Paris at the in¬
auguration of President Angell, fourteenth
president of the University. I was also pleased
to attend at Philadelphia a meeting of the
American Philosophical Society and a meeting
of the College of Physicians, and at Chicago a
meeting of the American Chemical Society at
which I delivered a lecture on the Discovery of
Radium. The medals of John Scott, Benjamin
Franklin, and Willard Gibbs have been pre¬
sented to me by these societies.

Several meetings organized in my honor by
the American women’s organizations have par¬
ticularly interested the American public. I have

238

PIERRE CURIE

already mentioned the meeting of the University
Women at Carnegie Hall of New York; a similar
meeting was held at Chicago, where I was also
received by the Association of Polish Women. I
was also greeted by women’s organizations in
the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, and by a
delegation of Canadian university women at
Buffalo. In all these meetings it was impossible
not to recognize the sincerity of the emotion in
the women who gave me their best wishes, at
the same time expressing their confidence in the
future of feminine intelligence and activity. I
did not feel any opposition between these
feministic aspirations and the masculine opin¬
ion. As far as I could notice, the men in
America approve of these aspirations and en¬
courage them. This is a very favorable condi¬
tion for the social activity of the American
women which reveals itself in a strong interest
in work for education, for hygiene, and for the
improvement of conditions of labor. But any
other unselfish purpose may rely on their sup¬
port, as is proved by the success of Mrs. Me-
loney’s plan, and by the sympathy this plan en¬
countered in women of all social conditions.

I could not, to my deep regret, give time
enough to the visit to laboratories and scientific
institutes. Thfese too brief visits were of great

A VISIT TO AMERICA

239

interest to me. I found everywhere the greatest
care for developing scientific activity and for
improving the facilities. New laboratories are
in building, and in older laboratories very mod¬
ern equipment may be found. The available
room never gives that impression of insufficiency
from which we suffer too often in France. The
means are provided by private initiative expressed
in gifts and foundations of various kinds. There
exists also a National Council of Research estab¬
lished by private funds for stimulating and im¬
proving scientific work, and for assuring its con¬
nection with industry.

I have visited with special interest the Bureau
of Standards, a very important national institu¬
tion at Washington for scientific measurements
and for study connected with them. The tubes
of radium presented to me were at the Bureau,
whose officials had kindly offered to make the
measurements, and to take care of the packing
and delivery to the ship.

A new laboratory has been created at Wash¬
ington for researches on very low temperatures
with the use of liquid hydrogen and liquid
helium. I had the honor of dedicating this lab¬
oratory to its service.

I had the great pleasure of meeting in their
laboratories several very important American

240

PIERRE CURIE

scientific men. The hours I spent in their com¬
pany are among the best of my travel.

The United States possesses several hospitals
for radiumtherapy. These hospitals are gen¬
erally provided with laboratories for the extrac¬
tion of radium emanation which is sealed up in
small tubes for medical use. These institutions
own important quantities of radium, have a very
good equipment, and treat a great number of
patients. I have visited some of them, and this
made me feel more deeply, if possible, the regret
of not having in France even one national insti¬
tute capable of rendering the same services. I
hope that this lack will be filled in the near
future.

The industry of radium has been started in
France, but it is in America that it has had its
greatest development, owing to the presence of
a sufficient supply of the ore camotite.1 I was
very much interested in my visit to the most
important of the factories, and I gladly recognize
the spirit of initiative in this undertaking. The
factory owns a collection of documentary films
which enable one to appreciate the effort made
each day in collecting the ore scattered in the

1 Quite recently there has been started near Anverst an
important radium industry as a result of the discovery of
uranium ore in the Belgian Congo.

A VISIT TO AMERICA

241

immense fields of Colorado, in carrying and con¬
centrating this ore originally very poor in
radium. On the other hand, the means of ex¬
traction of radium are still the same which have
.been described in earlier chapters.

The greatest courtesy was paid me in my visit
to the radium plant and laboratory. I found the
same reception at a factory of mesothorium
which presented me with some material, and
where the officials expressed the desire to help
in my scientific work.

To make complete these travel impressions it
would be necessary to speak of the nature of the
country. I recoil before the task, being in¬
capable of expressing in a few words the im¬
mensity and the variety of the spaces which
opened before my eyes. The general impression
is one of unlimited possibilities for the future. I
keep a particularly vivid remembrance of the
great falls of Niagara, and of the magnificent
colors of the Grand Canyon.

On June 28th I embarked in New York on the
same ship which had brought me to the United
States less than two months before. I would not
take the liberty, after so short a period of time,
of giving an opinion on America and the Ameri¬
cans. I would only say how deeply I have
been touched by the warm reception which was

242

PIERRE CURIE

tendered everywhere to me and my daughters.
Our hosts wanted to make us feel that we were
not with strangers ; and, on the other hand, many
of them assured me that they felt in entirely
friendly surroundings when on the soil of France.
I got back to France with a feeling of gratitude
for the precious gift of the American women, and
with a feeling of affection for their great country
tied with ours by a mutual sympathy which gives
confidence in a peaceful future for humanity.

1337 •

DATE DUE

16 16

540.92 C923k
Curie, Mari e ,
Pierre Curie

1 867-1 934.

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